The Malolos Congress (also known as the Revolutionary Congress), formally known as the National Assembly, was the legislative body of the

Revolutionary Government of the Philippines A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

. Members were chosen in the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

held from June 23 to September 10, 1898. The assembly consisted of elected delegates chosen by balloting in provincial assemblies and appointed delegates chosen by the president to represent regions under unstable military and civilian conditions. The Revolutionary Congress was opened on September 15, 1898 at Barasoain Church in

Malolos, Bulacan Malolos, officially the City of Malolos ( fil, Lungsod ng Malolos), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 261,189 people. It is the capital city ...

. President Emilio Aguinaldo presided over the opening session of the assembly. After the promulgation of the Malolos Constitution on January 22, 1899, replaced the revolutionary government with the Philippine Republic, the Malolos Congress became the legislative branch of that government, designated in the constitution as the ''Assembly of Representatives''.The 1899 Malolos Constitution in Spanish with a side-by-side English translation
(Article 33)

Sessions

* Regular session: September 15, 1898 – November 13, 1899 * Special session: February 4, 1899

Leadership

*President of the Revolutionary Congress :: Pedro Paterno *Vice President/Deputy :: Benito Legarda *Secretary :: Gregorio S. Araneta and Pablo Ocampo

Members

In 2006, it was asserted by the president of the Bulacan Historical Society, engineer Marcial Aniag, that among the 85 delegates who convened in Malolos there were 43 lawyers, 17 doctors, five pharmacists, three educators, seven businessmen, four painters, three military men, a priest, and four farmers. Five of the 85 delegates did not have a college degree.

Ratification of the declaration of independence

One of the first acts of the Revolutionary Congress was the ratification on September 29, 1898 of the Philippine Declaration of Independence against Spain which had been proclaimed on June 12, 1898.

Malolos Constitution

Mabini had planned for the Revolutionary Congress to act only as an advisory body to the president and submitted a draft of Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic while Paterno submitted a constitutional draft based on the Spanish Constitution of 1869. The Congress, however, began work to draft a constitution. The resulting document, the Malolos Constitution, was promulgated on January 21, 1899. Its proclamation resulted in the creation of the Philippine Republic, which replaced the Revolutionary Government.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Philippine legislative periods Malolos Congress