The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first president.

The Political Constitution of 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 January 21, 1899.

The Philippine Republic, now officially remembered as the First Philippine Republic and also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was a state established in Malolos, Bulacan, during the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire (1896–1898) and the Spanish–American War between Spain and the United States (1898) through the promulgation of the Malolos Constitution on January 23, 1899, succeeding the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines. It was formally established with Emilio Aguinaldo as president. It was unrecognized outside of the Philippines but remained active until April 19, 1901. Following the American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay, Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines, issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence on June 12, 1898, and proclaimed successive revolutionary Philippine governments on June 18 and 23 of that year.

Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who became the first president of the Philippines (1899–1901), and the first president of an Asian constitutional republic. He served the 2nd shortest term as president of the Philippines, lasting for only 2 years and 27 days, only behind Sergio Osmeña by 516 days, of which, he only lasted from August 1, 1944 to May 28, 1946. He led the Philippine forces first against Spain in the Philippine Revolution (1896–1898), then in the Spanish–American War (1898), and finally against the United States during the Philippine–American War (1899–1901). He is regarded in the Philippines as having been the country's first president during the period of the First Philippine Republic, though he was not recognized as such outside of the revolutionary Philippines.