 youngest president, taking office at age 28

 longest-lived president, passing away at 94

Biak-na-Bato[edit]
Main articles: Republic of Biak-na-Bato and Pact of Biak-na-Bato
The Spanish army launched an attack which forced the revolutionary forces under Aguinaldo into a
retreat. On June 24, 1897 Aguinaldo arrived at Biak-na-Bato in San Miguel, Bulacan, and
established a headquarters there, located in Biak-na-Bato National Park in what is now known
as Aguinaldo Cave. In late October 1897, Aguinaldo convened an assembly of generals at Biak-na-
Bato, where it was decided to establish a constitutional republic. A constitution patterned closely
after the Cuban Constitution was drawn up by Isabelo Artacho and Felix Ferrer

cor·o·nar·y throm·bo·sis
a blockage of the flow of blood to the heart, caused by a blood clot in a coronary artery.

Aguinaldo as President

Indeed, although Aguinaldo and other Filipino leaders were unaware of it initially, Spain
had handed over direct control of the Philippines to the United States in return for $20
million, as agreed in the Treaty of Paris. Despite rumored promises of independence
made by US military officers eager for Filipino help in the war, the Philippine Republic
was not to be a free state. It had simply acquired a new colonial master.

To commemorate the United States's most substantial foray into the imperial game, in
1899 the British author Rudyard Kipling wrote "The White Man's Burden," a poem
extolling American power over "Your new-caught, sullen peoples / Half-devil and half-
child."

"Christianizing" the (largely Roman Catholic)

Emilio Aguinaldo's Death and Legacy

Although today Aguinaldo is often heralded as a symbol of the democratic and

independent spirit of the Philippines, he was a self-proclaimed dictator during his short
period of rule. Other members of the Chinese/Tagalog elite, such as Ferdinand Marcos,
later would wield that power more successfully.