Filipino nationalism refers to the establishment and support of a political identity associated with the modern nation-state of the Philippines, leading to a wide-ranging campaign for political, social, and economic freedom in the Philippines. This gradually emerged from various political and armed movements throughout most of the Spanish East Indies—but which has long been fragmented and inconsistent with contemporary definitions of such nationalism—as a consequence of more than three centuries of Spanish rule. These movements are characterized by the upsurge of anti-colonialist sentiments and ideals which peaked in the late 19th century led mostly by the ilustrado or landed, educated elites, whether peninsulares, insulares, or native (Indio). This served as the backbone of the first nationalist revolution in Asia, the Philippine Revolution of 1896. The modern concept would later be fully actualized upon the inception of a Philippine state with its contemporary borders after being granted independence by the United States by the 1946 Treaty of Manila.
The Aguinaldo Shrine built in 1845 is where Philippine independence from Spain was declared on June 12, 1898.
Jose Basco, the 44th governor-general of the Philippines under Spanish colonial rule
Portrait of Charles III of Spain, 1761
Painting of a Spanish galleon during Manila-Acapulco Trade
The Philippine Independent Church is an independent Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the Philippines. Its schism from the Roman Catholic Church was proclaimed during the American colonial period in 1902, following the end of the Philippine–American War, by members of the Unión Obrera Democrática Filipina due to the pronounced mistreatment towards the Filipinos by Spanish priests, and partly influenced by the unjust executions of José Rizal and Filipino priests and prominent secularization movement figures Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, during earlier Spanish colonial rule wherein Roman Catholicism was the state religion in the country at the time.
The National Cathedral of the Holy Child located along Taft Avenue in Ermita, Manila
Gregorio Aglipay in his middle age as supreme bishop
President Emilio Aguinaldo and Supreme Bishop Gregorio Aglipay (seated, second and third from left respectively), with some Cabinet officials of the First Philippine Republic, December 1904.