<Tr> <Th> Signatories </Th> <Td> 98 delegates </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Purpose </Th> <Td> To proclaim the sovereignty and independence of the Philippines from the colonial rule of Spain </Td> </Tr> <P> The Philippine Declaration of Independence (Filipino: Pagpapahayag ng Kasarinlan ng Pilipinas) was proclaimed on June 12, 1898 in Cavite II el Viejo (present - day Kawit, Cavite), Philippines . With the public reading of the Act of the Declaration of independence (Spanish: Acta de la proclamación de independencia del pueblo Filipino; Filipino: Paggawa ng Proklamasyon ng Kasarinlan ng sambayanang Pilipino), Filipino revolutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of the Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain . </P> <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>

When did the philippines declare its independence from spain