section_path: History/Early republics/Aguinaldo's governments and the First Republic
section_name: Aguinaldo's governments and the First Republic
paragraph_text: Aguinaldo's governments and the First Republic
  
  In March 1897, during the Philippine Revolution against Spain, Emilio Aguinaldo was elected president of a new revolutionary government at the Tejeros Convention in Tejeros, Cavite. The new government was meant to replace the Katipunan. It variously called itself the "Philippine Republic" (Spanish: Republica Filipina), "Republic of the Philippines" (Spanish: Republica de Filipinas) and "Government of All Tagalogs" or "Government of the Whole Tagalog Nation/People" (Filipino: Pamahalaan ng Sangkatagalugan).
  
  Months later, Aguinaldo was again elected president at Biak-na-Bato, Bulacan in November, leading a reorganized "Republic of the Philippines" (Spanish: Republica de Filipinas), commonly known today as the Republic of Biak-na-Bato. Aguinaldo therefore signed the Pact of Biak-na-Bato and went into exile in Hong Kong at the end of 1897.
  
  In April 1898, the Spanish–American War broke out, and afterwards, the Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy sailed for the Philippines. At the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, the American Navy decisively defeated the Spanish Navy. Aguinaldo subsequently returned to the Philippines aboard a U.S. Navy vessel and renewed the revolution. He formed a dictatorial government on May 24, 1898, and issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence on June 12, 1898. During this brief period he took the title "Dictator" and the Declaration of Independence refers to him as such.
  
  On June 23, 1898, Aguinaldo transformed his dictatorial government into a revolutionary government and became known as "President" again. On January 23, 1899, Aguinaldo was then elected president of the " Philippine Republic " (Spanish: Republica Filipina), a new government constituted by a revolutionary congress under a likewise revolutionary constitution. Consequently, this government is today officially considered to be the proper "first republic" and is also called the Malolos Republic, after its capital Malolos in Bulacan; its congress (formally "National Assembly") and constitution are commonly known as the Malolos Congress and Malolos Constitution as well.
  
  Like all of its predecessors and would-be successors until the 1935 Commonwealth of the Philippines, the First Philippine Republic was short-lived and never internationally recognized, and never controlled or was universally recognized by the entire area covered by the current republic, though it (and they) claimed to represent and govern the entire Philippine archipelago and all its people. The Philippines was transferred from Spanish to American control by the Treaty of Paris of 1898, signed in December of that year. The Philippine–American War broke out between the United States and Aguinaldo's government. His government effectively ceased to exist on April 1, 1901, after he pledged allegiance to the United States following his capture by U.S. forces in March.
  
  The current government of the Republic of the Philippines considers Emilio Aguinaldo to be the first president of the Philippines-based specifically on his presidency of the Malolos Republic, not any of his various prior governments.