The development of Philippine politics

THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNME:NT

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mittees were selected and the rules of the Spanish Cortes,
with slight modifications, were adopted.
Several days afterwards, on Sept. 17th, Pedro Paterno,
President of the Congress, made an inspiring address, in
which he said:
Filipinos, today begins a new era; we are beholding
the political resurrection of our people. Amidst the glooms
of yesterday; amidst the graves of our heroes and martyrs;
amidst the ruins of the past, there arises and stands the
refulgent genius of liberty, embracing all the islands and
uniting the Filipinos with bonds of holy brotherhood.
Liberty is the real purpose of our existence on earth,
the foundation of life and progress.
Our past, the era of cruelty, of deceit, of slavery, has
ended. We shall renew the history of the Philippines...
Filipinos, proceed! Let our steps be unflinching and
ever forward; let them be steps of justice, of love, of harmony, and of charity; let us win the sympathy of the whole
world with generous and humanitarian deeds; and let us
write, in the presence of the Lord, of the Supreme Being,
the oath of our independence.
One of the first acts of the Malolos Congress was the
ratification on September 29, 1898, of the Declaration of Independence which had been made at Kawit on June 12.
The Malolos Constitution
The primary object of the congress as Mabini had
planned it was to act only as: an advisory, body to the President. Soon, however, it decided to draft a constitution for
the Philippines. Mabini maintained that the revolutionary
congress was not called for the purpose of drafting a constitution, but to give popular support to Aguinaldo, to advise him, and to help in the prosecution of the war. Mabini contended, moreover, that to draft a constitution was
not the proper task at a time which was troubled by war;
that they must wait until the people were through with war
and were in a sufficiently calm mood to deliberate on their
fundamental law. His opponents, on the other hand,
claimed that in order to secure the recognition of Philippine independence by other powers they must produce a
fairly modern and up-to-date constitution. This element,
headed by Calderon, was triumphant, and finally decided to