Prime Minister of the Philippines
On December 10, 1898, on the other hand, the war between United States and Spain was concluded with Spain giving up all rights to Cuba and surrendering the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. Two days later, Aguinaldo ordered his lawyer Felipe Agoncillo to contest the Philippine status as an independent nation and no longer a Spanish colony since the declaration of independence on June 12, 1898. However, the United States did not recognize Philippine sovereignty and announced their interest to annex the country by January 1899. This brought into serious foreign conflict when the Republic was formally established in January 23 at Malolos. By January 30, Aguinaldo resent Agoncillo, this time to the United States Senate, so as to reconsider their plans to annex the country and instead formally recognize Filipino independence.
National Assembly of the Philippines
Philippine independence was eventually proclaimed on October 14, 1943. Laurel called the National Assembly into a special session from October 17 to 23, when it passed resolutions expressing gratitude to the Japanese for its grant of independence. The National Assembly met for its first regular session from November 25, 1943 to February 2, 1944. It passed a total of 66 bills and 23 resolutions, ranging from the creation of new government agencies to address the existing problems and conditions during the war and other problems which had not been addressed during the Commonwealth period. Since the Philippines now acted as an independent state, the National Assembly created the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Central Bank. It also extended additional powers to the President, similar to those granted to Quezon by the Commonwealth National Assembly.