sentences:  Following the defeat of the Spanish at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War on May 1, 1898, by the American Navy, Philippine revolutionary forces under Emilio Aquinaldo declared the Philippines to be an independent nation on June 12, 1898.These elections were held by the revolutionary government following that declaration.After the Spanish sold the Philippines to the Americans in the Treaty of Paris of 1898, signed on December 10, 1898, the First Philippine Republic, which includes the Mololos Congress, fought the Philippine–American War against the American colonial forces, eventually losing the war.