The Malolos Congress the birthing place of a Republic The making of a Constitution,

EIGHTY-NINE years ago today, Katipuneros in full battle regalia massed on the streets of Malolos. The hatted officers, their swords unsheathed, and the ranks, also hatted and muskets resting on their shoulders, were awaiting the arrival of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo The municipio and the Katipuneros were welcoming the man to the Malolos Congress which, 48 hours after the general's arrival, would begin working on the first-ever Constitution of the Philippines. The Barasoain Church would be the session hall for the Congress of a Republic.

In the eyes of the island's seven million inhabitants, Aguinaldo was their president The 29-year-old general had been acclaimed rightly so four months before in his hometown of Kawit in Cavite There, on June 12, 1898, the revolutionary government proclaimed independence from Spain, read the Declaration of Independence, unfurled the flag of the First Philippine Republic, and played the national anthem.

In the eyes of US President William McKinley, the foot soldiers and their officers and their president commander-in-chief were insurgents, America having annexed the Philippines exactly a month before, on August 13, when the United States "won" against Spain in the Battle of Manila

GEN. EMILIO FAMY AGUINALDO

The annexation prompted Aguinaldo and his 40,000 strong army to transfer the seat of government from Bacoor, Cavite to Malolos, Bulacan on August 22 He would a few days later issue a proclamation calling for a meeting of delegates to a national assembly in Malolos

Eight days before the flight to Malolos, on August 14, Gen Wesley Merritt had issued a proclamation announcing "the established among you by the United States is a Government of Military Occupation." The day before, McKinley had given explicit instructions to Merritt and Battle of Manila "hero" Adm George Dewey: "There must be no joint occupation with insurgents. Use any means in your judgment necessary to this end."

On August 29, Cen Elwell Otis, who replaced Merritt, reiterated his predecessor's order to shoot on sight any Filipino soldier who dared cross the main bridge into Manila. Bitter over American betrayal, Aguinaldo and his men began retreating to Malolos on September 9 Upon arrival, he declared the town as the new capital of the Republic.

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THE fugitive Republic, left holding the bag by American treachery ilustrado naivete, apparently did not wish to be reminded of anything even remotely associated with McKinley's grand plan for the occupied territory: "the control, disposition, and government of the Philippines," according to a protocol signed in Washington on August 12, 1898.

Felipe Calderon, who Aguinaldo assigned to prepare a working draft of the Constitution, for instance, drew much from South American charters, particularly that of Costa Rica. The draft, as was the final copy approved by Aguinaldo on January 21, 1899, was written in Spanish. These rebuffs, surmised lawyer Rene Sarmiento, a former commissioner of the 1986 Constitutional Commission which produced in October last year the fourth Constitution in Philippine history, may have been dictated composition, by the class generally ilustrado, of the 50-man Congress or by the body's deliberate attempt to spite the Americans Calderon, according to Sarmiento, also got his material from the Constitutions of Guatemala, Peru, Italy, and France.

Sarmiento described the Malolos Constitution as "electric" and steeped in the philosophies of John Stuart Mill, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The French spirit lived for a day, at least on the Congress's dining table, through the sardines tomates, aux salmon hollandais, cotelletes de mouton, and champagne served the delegates on September 23.

Consisting of 101 articles (an additional article called for the restoration to the "Filipino state," effective May 24, 1898 when the dictatorial government of Cavite was constituted, of "all lands, buildings, and other properties belonging to the religious corporations in these islands"), the Malolos Charter was a step ahead of the other Constitutions of the Philippines in some respects.

Article 86 provides that "the public debt which the government may have contracted according to this Constitution shall be under the special guaranty of the nation " The last provision of this article, which unfortunately is not found in the 1935, 1973 (as amended in 1976, 1981, and 1984), and Cory Constitutions, states: "No indebtedness shall be created without voting at the same time for the means by which to pay it." An English translation of the Malolos Constitution was given to each of the 45 members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

The Malolos Charter also provided for unicameral legislature which, according to Sarmiento, was dictated by the fugitive republic's need to respond to problems immediately and the concern to reduce expenses. Leafing through the Charter reveals, however, that the provisions (Articles 33 to 53) meant to clip the vast executive powers of Aguinaldo. Under Articles 33 to 53. The general as chief executive and commander-in- chief was answerable only to the Assembly of Representatives, or National Assembly the restoration to the "Filipino which had sole authority to enact laws, choose the President, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and the Solicitor General, and hold responsible for their actuations all members of government.

Surprisingly, the Charter carried no provisions on states of emergencies necessitating, for instance, the declaration of martial law. But given the "omnipotent power (of the National Assembly)," according to Calderon, the provision would have been academic given, furthermore, the people's hamense trust in Aguinaldo as the man the Filipinos needed to take back the laurel of victory the Yankees stole from the indios.

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ONE notable exception to an otherwise unanimous approval of the provisions was that on religion, with the Congress after prolonged debate voting against Calderon's proposal to make the Roman Catholic religion the official one for Filipinos. Instead, Tomas del Rosario's proposal to separate the Church from the State was adopted. The opening session of the Congress on September 15 saw thealtaroftheBarasoainChurchcompletelycoveredbyacloth.

The Congress came to a close after resolving the separation issue. Aguinaldo approved the draft and on January 21, 1899. He proclaimed the new Constitution the highest law of the land. Two days later, he was formally installed as President of the Philippines, a parade announcing to the world the establishmentoftheFirstPhilippineRepublic.

Malolos had already become a blur when the Treaty of Paris was signed by Spain and the United States on December 1898. The Malolos Constitution, in Aguinaldo's words, "the most glorious expression of the noble aspirations of the Filipino people, a mirror of their culture, and clear proof before the world of their capacity to govern themselves," closed another chapter in Philippine history on March 23, 1901 when Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston captured the Filipino general in Palanan, Isabela. The general had just turned 32 the day before, his knighthood in flower, his stab at nationhood nipped by ascendant imperialism. MPK