section_path: History/Other issues
section_name: Other issues
paragraph_text: Other issues
  
  Both Bonifacio and Aguinaldo might be considered to have been an inaugural president of an insurgent government. Quezon was the inaugural president of a predecessor state to the current one, while Roxas was the first president of an independent Philippines.
  
  The government considers Aguinaldo to have been the first president of the Philippines, followed by Quezon and his successors. Despite the differences in constitutions and government, the line of presidents is considered to be continuous. For instance, Rodrigo Duterte, is considered to be the 16th president.
  
  While the government may consider Aguinaldo as the first president, the First Republic fell under the United States' jurisdiction due to the 1898 Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish–American War; the United States thus does not consider his tenure to have been legitimate. Manuel L. Quezon is considered to be the first president by the United States when they gave the Philippines independence through the Tydings–McDuffie Act. He is also the first to win a popular election and a nationwide election.
  
  During the Second World War, the Philippines had two presidents heading two governments. One was Quezon and the Commonwealth government-in-exile in Washington, D.C., and the other was Manila-based Laurel heading the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic. Notably, Laurel was himself instructed to remain in Manila by President Quezon. Laurel and Aguinaldo were not formally recognized as Philippine presidents until Diosdado Macapagal's administration. Their inclusion in the official list coincided with the transfer of the official date of Independence Day from July 4 (the anniversary of the Philippines' independence from the United States) to June 12 (the anniversary of the 1898 Declaration of Independence).