Bohol Provincial Library

Bohol Provincial Library Sources of information and similar resources, made accessible to a defined community for references or borrowing and provides physical access to materials.
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Big thanks toRamil Gamba Betefor all your support! Congrats for being top fans on a streak 🔥!
08/01/2026

Big thanks to

Ramil Gamba Bete

for all your support! Congrats for being top fans on a streak 🔥!

The BOHOL PROVINCIAL LIBRARY and INFORMATION CENTER commemorates with the people of the province of Bohol and the famil...
18/05/2023

The BOHOL PROVINCIAL LIBRARY and INFORMATION CENTER commemorates with the people of the province of Bohol and the family of the late former Governor ERICO BOYLES AUMENTADO on his 83rd birth anniversary.

“You had exhibited uncommon wisdom, remarkable vision, and exemplary leadership. You were the best leader anyone could ask for. You were and always be a great role model and example for this generation. Thank you for your service!”

(A biography as well as a book about the life, vision for Bohol, and achievements of former Gov. Erico B. Aumentado is available at the Boholania and Archive Section of the BPLIC)

June 30, 2022, the 1987 Philippine Constitution designated June 30 as the day when the President of the Philippines ta...
30/06/2022

June 30, 2022, the 1987 Philippine Constitution designated June 30 as the day when the President of the Philippines takes his oath of office. Change comes on June 30 every six years as a new president takes his oath of office to assume the highest government position in the Philippines for six years.

The President formally takes possession of the Palace as his official residence and office by climbing the main stairs of the Palace for the first time as President of the Philippines. This is a tradition begun by President Manuel L. Quezon, who was moved by the legend that Jose Rizal’s mother climbed the stairs on her knees, to beg for the life of her son.

Malacañan Palace stands as the office and the official residence of the President of the Philippines. According to “Malacañan Palace: The Official Illustrated History,” it is “the expression, in ornamental landscaping, in concrete, wood, and stone, of the Office of the Presidency,” and is “the embodiment of the supreme authority in the country, indivisible, in many ways, but also imbued with a history of its own, as an almost organic institution on its own.” In its role as the epicenter of “the panoply of state and the minutiae of governance,” perhaps no ritual of the inauguration is so steeped in history and legend, and so symbolic of the gravitas accorded the highest office in the land, as a President’s first climbing of its main stairs.

Indeed, even the transfer of power from one President to another is affirmed through these stairs. On his successor’s inaugural, the President descends the stairs of the Palace accompanied by the President-elect — thus marking the formal act of leaving office for the incumbent. The President-elect will then symbolically mark the start of his presidency by climbing the same stairs later in the day.

President Quezon wanted the ritual to symbolize that, henceforth, a Filipino Chief Executive would be governing from Malacañan Palace, one who could walk up the stairs proudly as the leader of his own people; at the same time, ascending those stairs would be a constant reminder to every President of the portion of the oath of office which pledges justice to every man.

And so it was on “the fine, clear, and cold morning” of November 15, 1935, after he had taken his oath as President of the newly established Commonwealth of the Philippines President Quezon led the crowd to Malacañan Palace. At last, a Filipino — one chosen by the very people he was to lead — was to live in the edifice that had, since time immemorial, been the seat of two colonial governments. The climbing of the stairs would henceforth signify that the Chief Executive was the freely-elected head of the Filipino people, one pledged to govern them with justice in contrast to the appointed colonial governors who formerly inhabited the Palace. He could stand tall as a leader elected by the people, in contrast to the chosen representatives of governments of distant lands. The ritual climbing of the stairs, at the start of a presidency, would then on remain a simple yet eloquent act reclaiming that which had once been denied Filipinos.

Malacañan’s original structure was built in 1750 by Don Luis Rocha, a Spaniard in the galleon trade, who built it as a summer house located in San Miguel, Paco, and Santa Ana along the Pasig River. It was acquired by a Spanish army officer, Col. Jose Miguel Formento, in 1802. In 1824–1825, the heirs of Col. Formento sold it to the government. In 1847, the property was declared the official summer residence of the governor-general.

Malacañan Palace — the Palace of the People according to one of its former inhabitants — serves a purpose much loftier than as the official residence of the Chief Executive of the Philippines. As a prize, it is the tangible symbol of the people’s trust, won after the grueling elections; as pulpit, the platform from which decisions and orders that affect the Filipinos’ lives emanate; and the stage from which the pomp and pageantry of the Philippine presidency is presented.

Sources and References:
1. Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO)
2. “Malacañan Palace,” “Malacañang as Prize, Pulpit and Stage,” Presidential Museum and Library PH
3. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines








June 29, 1944, the U.S. Congress passed Joint Resolution No. 93, authorizing the President of the United States to pro...
29/06/2022

June 29, 1944, the U.S. Congress passed Joint Resolution No. 93, authorizing the President of the United States to proclaim the Independence of the Philippines.

As the Filipino people agonized under the Japanese occupation of their land, the government of the Commonwealth-in-Exile was functioning in Washington, D.C., with Manuel L. Quezon as President and Sergio Osmeña as Vice-President. It should be recalled that President Quezon, accompanied by his family, Vice-President Osmeña, and the War Cabinet, had successfully escaped from Corregidor on the night of February 20, 1942, and eventually reached the United States, where he was welcomed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Quezon administration requested the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States the introduction of what later became a joint resolution of both Houses in the form of S.J. Res. No. 93, which became law on June 29, 1944.

The Commonwealth-in-Exile existed from May 13, 1942 to October 20, 1944. On June 14, 1942, it became a member of the wartime organization of Allied countries called the “United Nations” (not the present United Nations Organization). By virtue of its membership in this “United Nations,” it assumed the rights and privileges of an independent nation. It was also given a seat in the Pacific War Council and was invited to participate in several international conferences.

Despite his failing health, President Quezon labored to focus the attention of the American public on the fate of his struggling people. He appeared before both houses of the United States Congress, held conferences with President Roosevelt, and delivered speeches to inform Americans about the Philippines. The members of his War Cabinet busied themselves publicizing the heroism of the Filipinos and urging their early liberation from Japanese oppression.

The U.S. Congress, upon President Roosevelt’s recommendations, enacted two joint resolutions, namely, Joint Resolution No. 93 and Joint Resolution No. 94, which Roosevelt signed on June 29, 1944. Joint Resolution No. 93 provided that the “United States would drive the treacherous, invading Japanese from the Philippine Islands, and thereupon establish the complete independence of the Philippine Islands.” Joint Resolution No. 94 created the U.S.-Philippine Rehabilitation Commission composed of nine Americans and nine Filipinos to study the post-war economy of the Philippines and to formulate plans for the future Philippine-American trade relations.

It should be noted that President Quezon’s term expired on November 15, 1943, after serving eight consecutive years, as provided by the amended 1935 Philippine Constitution. On this date, November 15, 1943, Vice-President Osmeña would have become President of the Philippines. In view of the fact that President Quezon, who was seriously ill of tuberculosis, wanted very much to continue as President of the Philippines, Vice-President Osmeña, a man of genuine patriotism, humanity, honor, and sincerity, wrote to Quezon and President Roosevelt nobly renouncing his constitutional right to assume the Philippine Presidency on November 15, 1943. Such a chivalric gesture is unprecedented in the political annals of the Philippines.

Accordingly, the U.S. Congress promulgated Joint Resolution No. 95, which President Roosevelt signed on November 12, 1943, three days before the expiration of President Quezon’s term. This joint resolution extended Quezon’s presidential term until the restoration of the normal functions of democratic processes in the Philippines.

Thus, Quezon continued as President until his death at Saranac Lake Sanitarium, New York, in the morning of August 1, 1944. Upon hearing of the sorrowful news of the death of his great friend and partner in fame, Osmeña cried, saying: “We have lost a great patriot.” At 2:40 p.m., August 1, 1944, Osmeña became the President of the Philippines. He was sworn into office at Washington, D.C. by Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson of the U.S. Supreme Court.

From August to October 1944, the tide of war decidedly turned in favor of the United States, as American planes began to bomb targets in the Philippines. On October 20, 1944, the main attack force of around 174,000 American troops, ferried by an armada of 700 warships, landed at Leyte. After the first wave of Marine troops had made a beachhead, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore, at Red Beach, near Palo, Leyte, accompanied by President Osmeña, General Carlos P. Romulo and General Basilio Valdez. “I have returned,” MacArthur told the jubilant Filipino nation. On October 23, 1944, the Commonwealth Government was declared restored, with Tacloban as the temporary capital.

Sources and References:
1. Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO)
2. Manuel D. Duldulao, A Century of Philippine Legislature, Experience Philippines, Quezon City, Vol. I, p. 350
3. Philippine Almanac Book of Facts, 1986 Edition, Aurora Publications, p. 36
4. Gregorio F. Zaide, Sonia M. Zaide, History of the Republic of the Philippines, Metro Manila, 1983, 1987, pp. 352–354










June 28, 1571, the first session of the Ayuntamiento was held in Manila. The Ayuntamiento was a Spanish colonial admin...
28/06/2022

June 28, 1571, the first session of the Ayuntamiento was held in Manila. The Ayuntamiento was a Spanish colonial administrative council.

The Ayuntamiento de Manila Building was the premier civic building of Manila in the last years of the 19th century. Destroyed in the earthquake of 1863, it was erected anew to neo-classical designs by Spaniard engineer Eduardo Lopez Navarro and later Juan Jose Hervas. Construction began in 1879 and was fully completed only in the 1890s. The grand building housed the Manila City Council, the offices and residence of the Governor of the Province of Manila (the U.S. colonial government or the Philippine Commission dissolved the former province of Manila), and the headquarters of the Guardia Civil Veterana, which was the quasi-military police force. After the war was declared between Spain and the United States, the Governor-General and his office move in the ayuntamiento building, within the safety of Manila’s walls, from Malacañan Palace at the outskirts of the city.

The building, also known as the Casas Consitoriales, was considered the equivalent of the modern-day City Hall. At the turn of the 19th century, the Ayuntamiento witnessed the signing of terms of the capitulation of Manila between U.S. General Wesley Merritt and Spanish Governor-General Fermin de Jaudenes. The building, which served as Manila’s first City Hall, was destroyed during the Liberation of Manila in February 1945 but was rebuilt in 2013.

No sooner had Spain obtained a foothold in the Philippines than the conquistadores cast imperialist eyes on other Asian countries and dreamed of a vast Spanish empire spanning the globe. Indeed, the conquest of the Philippines made Spain the greatest colonial empire in the 16th century, just as the American colonization of the Philippines turned the United States into a global power in the 20th century.

As a colony, the Philippines was a financial burden to the Spanish treasury. For this reason, the advisors of King Philip II recommended the abandonment of the Philippines. The king spurned their advice. He told them that the chief objective of the Spanish colonization was the propagation of Christianity, and that for the conversion of the Filipino people he would gladly spend “all the riches of the Indies.”*

In 1619, the question of abandoning the Philippines was revived by the court advisers. Upon hearing the news, Fr. Fernando Moraga, despite his advanced age and feeble health, journeyed to Spain. He threw himself at the feet of King Philip III (son of King Philip II), imploring him not to abandon the Philippines for the sake of Christianity. Deeply touched by the padre’s pleading, the king replied: “Depart with God, Father Moraga, and be assured that I will not give up what my father had conquered and left me.”**

The Philippines was a crown colony in the sense that she belonged to the Spanish king. From the beginning of Spanish rule to 1821, she was a dependency of Mexico, being administered directly by the Mexican viceroy in the name of the Spanish king. After Mexico’s separation from Spain in 1821, the Philippines came to be directly ruled from Madrid, and this arrangement lasted until 1898. The king appointed the governor general and other colonial officials and issued royal degrees governing the Philippines.

To help the king rule the colonies, the Council of the Indies was created. This council was a powerful body, for it handled all matters pertaining to the colonies of the Spanish empire. The numerous laws governing the colonies of Spain were compiled and published into a convenient colonial code entitled Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias, popularly known as simply Laws of the Indies.***

The chief executive of the Philippines during Spanish times was the Governor and the Captain-General. This was his official title. He was, however, commonly called governor general. As chief executive, he enforced the king’s royal degrees and other laws from Spain. He was the commander-in-chief of the colonial armed forces. He appointed and removed colonial officials, except those who were appointed by the king. Because of the great distance of the Philippines from Spain, the governor general exercised the powers of a monarch. He appointed ambassadors to, and received ambassadors from, other countries. He administered not only the Philippines, but also the Marianas, the Carolines and the Palaus (archipelagos in the Pacific). These islands were considered a part of the Philippines during Spanish times. The governor general could veto any royal decree or law from Spain. This veto power was called cumplase.

For administrative purposes, the Philippines was divided into provinces and special districts. The provinces were known as alcaldias, each governed by an alcalde mayor. The special districts, representing unpacified regions, were known as corregimientos, each under a corregidor, usually an army officer.

The alcalde mayor of the province exercised both executive and judicial functions. He received a low salary, but his office was lucrative because of his privilege to engage in trade. This privilege was greatly abused so that it was abolished by law in 1844. Finally, in 1886, the alcalde mayor was made simply a judge, and a civil governor was appointed chief executive of the province.

The provinces were divided into pueblos (towns). Each pueblo was administered by a gobernadorcillo (petty governor). He was popularly called capitan and his wife, capitana. At first, he was elected annually by all married males of the town; later, in the 19th century, he was elected by 13 electors headed by the outgoing gobernadorcillo. Other town officials besides the gobernadorcillo were the teniente mayor (chief lieutenant), juez de sementeras (justice of the fields), juez de ganados (justice of cattle) juez de policia (justice of police) and the directorcillo (municipal secretary).

Every pueblo was divided into barangays (barrios), each under a cabeza de barangay. Like the gobernadorcillo, the cabeza served annually, without salary.

Several large towns in the Philippines were organized into cities. Among them were Manila, Lipa, Jaro, Cebu, Albay, Arevalo, Naga and Vigan. The city government was called ayuntamiento. The city council, known as cabildo, was composed of the alcalde (mayor), regidores (councilors), alguacil mayor (chief constable) and the escribano (secretary).

During the Spanish times, there was union of Church and State in the Philippines. Catholic Christianity was the state religion. Both civil and ecclesiastical authorities served God and the king. Owing to the union, the clergy enjoyed political influence in the colony.

In the town, the parish priest was the real power. He represented the majesty of Spain. He supervised local elections, education, charities, morals, and taxation.

Until 1762, bishops and archbishops acted as governors general in cases of vacancy in the gubernatorial office. Among them were: Archbishop Francisco de la Cuesta (1719–1721), Bishop Juan de Arrechederra (1745–1750), Bishop Lino de Espeleta (1759–1761) and Archbishop Manuel Antonio Rojo (1761–1762).

Sources and References:
1. Gregorio F. Zaide, Sonia M. Zaide, History of the Republic of the Philippines, Metro Manila, 1983, 1987, pp. 72–73, 79–81
2. Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO)
3. Presidential Museum and Library PH
4. Philippine Almanac Book of Facts, 1986 Edition, Aurora Publications, p. 36

*Fr. Hernando de los Rios Coronel, Memorial y relacion para su Majestad (Madrid, 1621). P. 52.

**Fr. Eusebio Gomez Platero, Catalogo biografico de los Religiosos Franciscanos de la Provincia de San Gregorio Magno en Filipinas (Manila, 1890), p. 84.

***The publication of the Recopilacion de Leyes de Indias was ordered by King Charles II on May 18, 1680, and the printing was finished the following year. In its final form, it consisted of 6,400 laws in nine books divided into titulos.








June 27, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo admitted that it was she who was talking in wiretapped phone conversa...
27/06/2022

June 27, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo admitted that it was she who was talking in wiretapped phone conversations about an alleged conspiracy to tamper the results of the 2004 Presidential elections. “I am sorry,” President Arroyo said in a televised address to the nation.

Finally caving in to demands for her to speak out about the politically explosive tape, President Arroyo broke her 22-day silence and addressed the nation that what she had done was “a lapse in judgement… and I take full responsibility for my actions.” “I also regret taking so long to speak before you on this matter… My intent was not to influence the outcome of the election, and it did not,” President Arroyo told the nation in a four-minute televised address aired live from Malacañang. President Arroyo did not categorically say in her address that she spoke with Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano (also known as Garci).

President Arroyo, however, denied opposition allegations that she attempted to rig the 2004 presidential elections. She also rejected the calls for her to step down. The House of Representatives, which was dominated by President Arroyo’s coalition, blocked attempts for an impeachment trial. Arroyo’s most publicized alleged accomplice from the electoral commission, Virgilio Garcillano, denied any wrongdoing, before his disappearance, and after his return. In December 2006, Garcillano was cleared of perjury charges by the Department of Justice.

On June 29, 2005, Susan Roces, widow of defeated presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr., came out fighting at a press conference in the historic Club Filipino in San Juan. “The gravest thing that you (Mrs. Arroyo) have done is that you have stolen the presidency, not once, but twice,” referring to the then Vice President Arroyo’s ascent to power in 2001, after the ouster of President Joseph Estrada, and the defeat of her husband in 2004. Roces said, “I cannot accept your apology. You have betrayed public trust. You do not have the right to lead the people.” Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales shrugged off Roces’s scathing remarks as the outburst of a “griping widow.” “It’s very clear that her husband was not destined to be president because he died of natural cause,” Gonzalez said with a chuckle.

Sources and References:
1. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines
2. Manuel D. Duldulao, A Century of Philippine Legislature, Experience Philippines, Quezon City, Vol. II, pp. 846–847
3. Aurea Calica, Paolo Romero, “GMA: I’m sorry, it’s me on tape,” PhilStar Global, June 28, 2005
4. Wikimedia Commons







June 24, 1944, the Second Invasion of Bohol by the Japanese Forces who numbering about 25,000 landed in three transpor...
24/06/2022

June 24, 1944, the Second Invasion of Bohol by the Japanese Forces who numbering about 25,000 landed in three transports with 26 launches and several barges at Tagbilaran. Simultaneous landings of numerous Japanese troops made at Valencia, Tubigon, Talibon and Ubay, all heading to attack the Boholano forces in Carmen―the established provincial capital town of Free Bohol. The people of Carmen, including civil and military officials and personnel fled at night to places of safety.

All roads led to Carmen, the Japanese troops from the south reached Carmen in the early morning of Sunday, June 25, 1944. Those coming from Tubigon reached at about 10:00 in the morning. Those from Ubay arrived later.

As the Japanese troops landed, the military and civil authorities and all the people knew that at last reinvasion was an accomplished fact and that all must face the consequences thereof. Inasmuch as Major Ismael Ingeniero, Commanding Officer of the Bohol Area Command, was already more than one month out of Bohol, Major Esteban Bernido took command, Major Bernido was the Chief of Staff of the Bohol Area Command. Bernido ordered that all Boholano soldiers should lie low and offer no resistance to the vastly superior forces of the enemy. All soldiers and civilians rushed in great panic to the mountains and to the mangroves as the reinvading Japanese forces landed. All Bohol was taken by the Japanese in one day.

This reinvasion in Bohol came since the colossal defeats of the Japanese Forces in the battle of Moalong, Loon and Ubujan, Tagbilaran, the Japanese occupation officials in Tagbilaran, feeling much concern over their personal safety, made frantic calls for help to the Japanese military authorities in Cebu and Manila. By radio, by letter and by personal interview, these occupation officials pleaded for reinforcements of Japanese soldiers to Bohol in order to mop-up the irksome guerrillas and thus widen their political and territorial jurisdictions and solve the food shortage problem in Tagbilaran.

The news of the Japanese reinvasion spread like wildfire. Some used carts; others pulled carromatas; others rode on horses; others rode on bicycles; and most went on foot. There was a heavy rain, but people plodded on crossing rice paddies, bushes and streams enveloped in darkness. Some used torches, but most groped their way into the dark. Parents filled with fear and anxiety carried their small children in their arms, while elder ones tugged along. Then followed the crying of little children and the wailing of mothers, and all said prayers to God either by their lips or in their hearts as everyone was shaken with indescribable fear as they pictured in their minds the booming of cannons, the firing of guns, carnage, conflagration, and devastation. The scene could be likened to the flight of the Israelites from Egypt in the days of Moses.

The officers and men at the General Headquarters maintained calm and immediately huddled with the civil authorities and decided at once to retreat to places of safety and evacuate important papers, records documents, arms, munitions, office equipment, telephone apparatus, the printing press, etc. Governor Conrado D. Marapao, Sr. ordered all provincial officials and employees to evacuate all records, documents and equipment of the civil government. But not all could be evacuated in just a few hours, and so many things were left behind. Much rice was left at the depot and was gotten by the enemy. Before 5:00 in the morning of June 25, 1944, around one thousand Japanese troops arrived from Loay. More than 600 Japanese troops arrived later from Tubigon via Sagbayan. They occupied Carmen at once.

The next day, mopping-up operations by the Japanese troops in full swing. Machine-gunning and mortar-firing upon civilians and Bohol troops in Pangangan and Sandingan islands and other areas, commandeering of bancas, foodstuffs, horses pigs, chickens, etc.

As all of Bohol was occupied by the Japanese Forces, Boholano soldiers and civil officials fled to the hills and swamps. The second invasion of Bohol was more sanguinary and tragic than the first. During the reinvasion, there were more killings, murders and tortures. There was more damage and destruction to property, and more commandeering. In many towns, houses were burned whose owners were suspected of giving support to the guerrillas.

As a consequence of the American landings on Leyte, nearly all the Japanese Forces in Mindanao and the Visayas were withdrawn and reinforced to Leyte. Bohol was no exception, all the Japanese garrisons scattered in different towns of Bohol were withdrawn on October 25–26, 1944 to Tagbilaran, and from there the Japanese were shipped to Leyte.

In the morning of Sunday, October 29, 1944, after most of the Japanese left Bohol and only around 200 were stationed at Tagbilaran, the Bohol Force under 3rd Battalion of the 85th Infantry Regiment entered Tagbilaran to attack the remaining Japanese troops.

Reference:
Ferandos, Pio, B., The Bohol Guerrillas in Action, Our Press Inc, Cebu City, 1981, pp. 123–147








June 23, 1898, upon Apolinario Mabini’s advice, General Emilio Aguinaldo changed the Dictatorial Government to the Rev...
23/06/2022

June 23, 1898, upon Apolinario Mabini’s advice, General Emilio Aguinaldo changed the Dictatorial Government to the Revolutionary Government. Aguinaldo gave up his title of “Dictator” and assumed a new one — “President of the Revolutionary Government.”

From exile in Hong Kong, upon the advice of the Filipino Hong Kong Junta, General Emilio Aguinaldo left on board the USS McCulloch. He arrived at Cavite, Philippines, on May 19, 1898. In response to Aguinaldo’s call, the Filipino patriots everywhere rushed to arms. Within a short time, Aguinaldo was once more at the head of a large army.

Aguinaldo had brought with him from Hong Kong a constitution providing for a federal republic. This constitution was written by Mariano Ponce*. His adviser, Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, convinced him that the country was not ready for a republic and that a dictatorship was needed to prosecute the war successfully.

Accordingly, on May 24, 1898, General Aguinaldo established the Dictatorial Government, with himself as dictator. He proclaimed that this Dictatorial Government was temporary and was to last only until a republic could be established.

The most significant achievement of the Dictatorial Government was the proclamation of Philippine Independence at Kawit, Cavite, on June 12, 1898. The day was declared a national holiday. Thousands of people from the provinces gathered in Kawit to witness the historic event.

After the proclamation of Philippine independence, Apolinario Mabini, the “Sublime Paralytic” became the adviser of General Aguinaldo. He was a lawyer, philosopher, and patriot. Because of his great intellectual gifts, he came to be called “Brains of the Philippine Revolution,” just as Emilio Jacinto, also known for his intellectual talents, was called the “Brains of the Katipunan.”

Upon Mabini’s advice, General Aguinaldo issued a declaration establishing the Revolutionary Government on June 23, 1898. This made provisions for a Congress, a Cabinet, and courts. On behalf of the Filipino people, Aguinaldo proclaimed that they “now no longer limit themselves to asking for assimilation with the political constitution of Spain, but ask for a complete separation and strive for independence, completely assured that the time has come when that can and ought to govern themselves.”

Later on, the municipal and provincial governments were organized in the towns and provinces throughout the Philippines. On August 1, 1898, a convention of town presidents was held in the town of Bacoor, Cavite, then the capital of the Revolutionary Government. This convention ratified the Declaration of Philippine Independence.

Meanwhile, as Aguinaldo was laying down the foundations of an independent government, troops were coming from the United States. By the end of July 1898, the American troops had totaled nearly 11,000 men, under the overall command of Major General Wesley Merritt.

The Filipinos under the leadership of General Emilio Aguinaldo rejected American annexation of the Philippines. They were determined to defend their freedom, which they had won from Spain by feat of arms, even to the extent of fighting the powerful American invaders. In defiance of America, the First Philippine Republic was established on January 23, 1899, but this republic only lasted for two years because the Americans captured General Aguinaldo.

Sources and References:
1. Gregorio F. Zaide, Sonia M. Zaide, History of the Republic of the Philippines, Metro Manila, 1983, 1987, pp. 254–255, 257, 261
2. Philippine Almanac Book of Facts, 1986 Edition, Aurora Publications, p. 35

*Text in English of the Ponce Constitution by G.F. Zaide, Philippine Constitutional History and Constitutions of Modern Nations (Manila, 1970), pp. 131–135










Address

Old Capitol Complex, C. Marapao Street
Tagbilaran City
6300

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Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
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The Bohol Provincial Library, through the years

Prompted by the growing needs of the province at that time, Representative Fermin S. Torralba and Representative Celestino Gallares passed a bill in Congress establishing a Bohol Branch Library in the province. As soon as it was made into law, it was readily implemented by Gov. Juan S. Torralba, and because of the collaborative efforts of these distinguished visionaries, Bohol now has a Provincial Library which every Boholano should be proud of.

The Bohol Provincial Library opened its doors to the public on September 07, 1925 with the inimitable Cirilo K. Darunday as its first Provincial Librarian. The original quarters of the Library was a one-storey Spanish type coral-stone building which was demolished in 1957.

Since its founding, the services of the library were uninterrupted except for a period of three years during the Japanese occupation in Bohol. The first few years after Liberation proved to be difficult and tying times for the library. After several transfers, another Spanish type coral-stone building housed the Library for 40 long years. It was only on June 08, 1998 when the Library moved to its new and modern quarters at the New Provincial Capitol Complex.