<P> In 1896, the Philippine Revolution began . In December 1897, the Spanish government and the revolutionaries signed a truce, the Pact of Biak - na - Bato, requiring that the Spanish pay the revolutionaries 800,000 pesos and that Aguinaldo and other leaders go into exile in Hong Kong . In April 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish--American War, Commodore George Dewey aboard the U.S.S. Olympia sailed from Hong Kong to Manila Bay leading the Asiatic Squadron of the U.S. Navy . On May 1, 1898, the United States defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Manila Bay . Emilio Aguinaldo decided to return to the Philippines to help American forces defeat the Spaniards . The U.S. Navy agreed to transport him back aboard the USS McCulloch, and on May 19, he arrived in Cavite . </P> <P> Independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898 between four and five in the afternoon in Cavite at the ancestral home of General Emilio Aguinaldo some 30 kilometers South of Manila . The event saw the unfurling of the National Flag of the Philippines, made in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herboza, and the performance of the Marcha Filipina Magdalo, as the national anthem, now known as Lupang Hinirang, which was composed by Julián Felipe and played by the San Francisco de Malabon marching band . </P> <P> The Act of the Declaration of Independence was prepared, written, and read by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista in Spanish . The Declaration was signed by 98 people, among them American army officer who witnessed the proclamation . The final paragraph states that there was a "stranger" (stranger in English translation--extranjero in the original Spanish, meaning foreigner) who attended the proceedings, Mr. L.M. Johnson, described as "a citizen of the U.S.A, a Colonel of Artillery". Despite his prior military experience, Johnson had no official role in the Philippines . </P> <P> The proclamation of Philippine independence was, however, promulgated on 1 August, when many towns had already been organized under the rules laid down by the Dictatorial Government of General Aguinaldo. 190 municipal presidents of different towns from 16 provinces--Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Bataan, Infanta, Morong, Tayabas, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Mindoro, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, La Union and Zambales--ratified the Proclamation of Independence in Bacoor, Cavite . </P>

Who authored the act of declaration of philippine independence