Philippine–American War
In 1902, the United States Congress passed the Philippine Organic Act, which provided for the creation of the Philippine Assembly, with members to be elected by Filipino males. (Women did not have suffrage in the US or the Philippines.) This act was superseded by the 1916 Philippine Autonomy Act, which contained the first formal and official declaration of the United States government's commitment to eventually grant independence to the Philippines. The 1934 Philippine Independence Act created the Commonwealth of the Philippines the following year, a limited form of independence, and established a process ending in Philippine independence (originally scheduled for 1944, but interrupted and delayed by World War II). The United States granted independence in 1946, following World War II and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, through the Treaty of Manila.
List of Presidents of the Philippines
The Commonwealth was inaugurated on November 15, 1935 at Manila, and ended upon independence on July 4, 1946.
The Second Republic was inaugurated on October 14, 1943 in Manila, and ended when President Jose P. Laurel dissolved the republic on August 17, 1945, in Tokyo.
The Third Republic started when independence was granted by the Americans on July 4, 1946, and ended upon the imposition of martial law by President Ferdinand E. Marcos on September 21, 1972.
President Ferdinand E. Marcos ruled by decree when he declared martial law on September 21, 1972. He inaugurated the "New Society" after a new constitution was ratified on January 17, 1973. He declared the Fourth Republic on January 17, 1981, after martial law was lifted.
President Corazon Aquino inaugurated the Fifth Republic after the present constitution was ratified. The plebiscite happened on February 2, 1987."Subnotes"