The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic.
The Political Constitution of 1899 (Spanish: Constitución Política de 1899), informally known as the Malolos Constitution, was the constitution of the First Philippine Republic. It was written by Felipe Calderón y Roca and Felipe Buencamino as an alternative to a pair of proposals to the Malolos Congress by Apolinario Mabini and Pedro Paterno. After a lengthy debate in the latter part of 1898, it was promulgated on 21 January 1899.The constitution placed limitations on unsupervised freedom of action by the chief executive which would have hampered rapid decision making. As it was created during the fight for Philippine independence from Spain, however, its Article 99 allowed unhampered executive freedom of action during wartime. Unsupervised executive governance continued throughout the Philippine–American War which erupted soon after proclamation.