Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

APPENDIX F
FIRST PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE
WORLD CONGRESS
(Held in Paris, France)
Declaration of Purposes and Resolution
We, delegates of different colonies of Filipino citizens residing
in different parts of the world, forming the FIRST PHILIPPINE
INDEPENDENCE WORLD CONGRESS, convened at the City of
Paris, France, on Monday, May 26, 1930, on the initiative of private
Filipino citizens following the brilliant example of the dead Filipino
patriots, Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Antonio Luna, Juan Luna, Pedro A. Paterno, Jose M. Panganiban, Antonio Regidor, Felix Resurrecci6n Hidalgo, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera,
Valentin Ventura, Jos6 Ramirez, Gonzalo Tuason and others, who
many years before have been living in Europe, striving for the freedom and independence of our beloved mother country, THE PHILIPPINES, DO HEREBY DECLARE BEFORE GOD AND BEFORE
THE WORLD;
More than four hundred years ago THE PHILIPPINES WAS
A FREE AND INDEPENDENT NATION, with her own civilization,
sovereignty and government, owning her own land by divine and
natural birthright. When the Portuguese navigator, Ferdinand Magellan, under the service of the Spanish Government, sailed to circumnavigate the world and by chance discovered some of the islands
of the Philippine Archipelago on March 16, 1521, he, without any just
title, declared them as belonging to the Spanish kingdom. Since then
the Spaniards decided to rule the Philippines as they ruled the countries of Netherlands, Milan, Naples, Sicily and Central and South
America. The Spanish Government in the Philippines lasted more
than three hundred years.
The Spanish rule, however, was very beneficial to the Filipino
people, and now that the wounds of the past have been healed, the
Filipinos acknowledge with filial love and eternal gratitude the uplifting and noble work of Spain. After the Spanish discovery, the
Filipino people soon received the lights of Western civilization, earlier
than any other Eastern country. The Philippines flourished under
the blessings of the Eastern and Western civilizations, blended together. The Filipinos became a Christian nation, and their customs
and ways of living were raised to the same standards, as those of the
Westerners, without thereby losing their main national characteristics.
Nevertheless, the Filipinos, like the peoples of Central and
South America, were not satisfied to continue living under foreign
tutelage. They knew that they were born free and independent, and
wanted to have their own national freedom. More than twenty uprisings took place against the Spanish Government. The last and
most serious revolt hppened in 1898. It brought about the final
downfall of the Spanish Government in the Philippines and the es361