20th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | March 2 | The Army Appropriation Act, also known as the Spooner Amendment, is passed by the US Senate. |
| March 23 | Aguinaldo is captured by US authorities. | |
| April 1 | Aguinaldo takes an oath of allegiance to the US. | |
| June 17 | El Colegio de San Beda established | |
| July 4 | Adna Chaffee appointed as the last US Military Governor (1901–1902) | |
| July 4 | A civil government is established in the Philippines with William Howard Taft as the first Civil Governor (1901–1904) | |
| July 18 | The US organizes the Philippine Constabulary | |
| August 28 | Silliman Institute, later known as Silliman University, is established as the first American university in the Philippines | |
| September | The first Filipino members of the second Philippine Commission are appointed | |
| September 27 | Guerillas, headed by the Filipino Captain Daza, attack the US military barracks in Balangiga, Samar | |
| September 28 | Balangiga massacre occurs | |
| October 20 | A U.S. Marine battalion arrives on Samar to conduct the March across Samar operation | |
| November 4 | The Philippine Commission enacts the Sedition Law | |
| December 14 | An earthquake estimated of magnitude 7.8 shakes Lucena City. | |
| 1902 | January | The first labor union of The Country, Union de Litografose Impresores de Filipinas, is organized. |
| January 21 | The Philippine Commission calls for the organization of Public Schools in the Philippines. | |
| March 30 | The US Marines leave Balangiga | |
| April 16 | General Miguel Malvar surrenders to the US forces | |
| May | Governor Taft negotiates with Pope Leo XIII the sale of the friar lands in the Philippines | |
| July | Philippine Commission passes the Philippine Organic Act | |
| July 1 | Cooper Act is passed by the US Senate. Philippine Assembly is established | |
| July 4 | Americans proclaim the end of the Philippine-American War, however fighting continues | |
| September 17 | Pope Leo XIII formally bestows a Pontifical title on the University of Santo Tomas | |
| November 12 | Bandolerism Act passed by the Philippine Commission. All armed resistance against US rule are considered banditry | |
| 1903 | Governor Taft enunciates the policy of The Philippines for the Filipinos | |
| 1904 | February 1 | Luke Edward Wright appointed as Civil Governor (1904–1905) |
| October 19 | The Manila Business School is renamed the Philippine School of Commerce (later the Polytechnic University of the Philippines). | |
| 1905 | November 3 | Henry Clay Ide appointed as Civil Governor (1905–1906) |
| 1906 | September 20 | James Francis Smith appointed as Civil Governor (1906–1909) |
| December 3 | St. Scholastica's College established by the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing | |
| 1907 | June 3 | Centro Escolar University established as Centro Escolar de Señoritas. |
| June 30 | First Congressional Elections held | |
| 1908 | June 18 | The University of the Philippines is established in Manila. |
| 1911 | January 27 | Mt Taal erupts, and kills 1,334 people |
| June 16 | De La Salle University-Manila is founded as De La Salle College by the Brothers of Christian Schools. | |
| December 28 | Tricentennial of the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas | |
| 1913 | September 1 | Newton W. Gilbert appointed as acting Civil Governor (1913) |
| October 6 | Francis Burton Harrison appointed as Civil Governor (1913–1921) | |
| 1914 | July 27 | Iglesia ni Cristo (largest independent church in Asia) is registered to the government. |
| 1916 | October 16 | The Jones Law is passed establishing an all-Filipino legislature |
| October 16 | Manuel Quezon elected Senate President while Sergio Osmenna is elected as House Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of the Philippines | |
| 1917 | January 11 | The first cabinet of Filipinos under the US regime is organized. |
| March 10 | Ambos Camarines Dissolved; Split into Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur. | |
| 1921 | March 5 | Charles Yeater appointed as acting Civil Governor (1921) |
| October 14 | Leonard Wood appointed as Civil Governor (1921–1927) | |
| 1927 | August 7 | Eugene Allen Gilmore appointed as acting Civil Governor (1927) |
| December 27 | Henry L. Stimson appointed as Civil Governor (1927–1929) | |
| 1929 | February 23 | Eugene Allen Gilmore appointed as acting Civil Governor (1929) |
| July 8 | Dwight F. Davis appointed as Civil Governor (1929–1932) | |
| 1930 | November 30 | The Communist Party of the Philippines is formally established |
| 1932 | January 9 | George C. Butte appointed as acting Civil Governor (1932) |
| February 29 | Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. appointed as Civil Governor (1932–1933) | |
| June 20 | Adamson School of Industrial Chemistry (ASIC) later known as Adamson University was founded by George Lucas Adamson | |
| October 26 | The Communist Party of the Philippines is declared illegal by the Supreme Court | |
| 1933 | July 15 | Frank Murphy appointed as the last Civil Governor of the Philippines (1933–1935) |
| 1934 | March 24 | The Tydings-McDuffie Law, known as the Philippine Independence Law, is approved by US President Roosevelt. |
| July 10 | 202 delegates are elected to the Constitutional Convention in accordance with the Tydings-McDuffie Law | |
| July 30 | The Philippine Constitutional Convention is inaugurated | |
| 1935 | February 8 | The Constitutional Convention creates a new constitution |
| February 15 | The Philippine Constitution is signed | |
| 14 May | The Philippine electorate ratifies the Constitution in a referendum | |
| September 17 | Manuel Quezon elected President in the first Philippine Presidential elections | |
| November 15 | The Philippine Commonwealth is inaugurated | |
| November 15 | The Office of Civil Governor is abolished | |
| 1941 | November 11 | Manuel Quezon re-elected as President |
| December 8 | Start of the Japanese Invasion of the Philippines | |
| December 20 | President Quezon, his family and the war cabinet move to Corregidor Island | |
| December 26 | General MacArthur declares Manila an open city | |
| December 28 | Filipino and US armies retreat to Bataan | |
| December 30 | Manuel Quezon takes his oath of Office at the Corregidor Island | |
| 1942 | January 2 | Japanese troops enters Manila |
| January 3 | Masaharu Homma appointed as Japanese Military Governor (1942) | |
| January 3 | General Masaharu Homma declares the end of American Rule in the Philippines | |
| January 3 | Martial Law declared | |
| January 13 | All forms of opposition against the Japanese forces declared subject to death penalty | |
| January 23 | An executive committee, composed of Filipinos, is formed by General Homma as a conduit of the military administration's policies and requirements. | |
| February 17 | The Japanese Military Government issues an order adopting the Japanese educational system in The Country | |
| February 20 | President Quezon and the war cabinet leave for the US | |
| March 11 | General MacArthur leaves for Australia to take command of the South Western Pacific Area | |
| March 13 | The Commonwealth government is moved to the US | |
| March 29 | The People's Anti-Japanese Army or Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Hukbalahap) is organized. | |
| April | A pro-US resistance movement is organized, mainly to provide data to the US on enemy positions | |
| April 9 | Bataan, under US commander General Edward King, is the last province that surrenders to the Japanese armies. | |
| 26 May | Corregidor Island falls to Japanese forces | |
| June 8 | Shizuichi Tanaka appointed as Japanese Military Governor (1942–1943) | |
| June 14 | The Commonwealth of the Philippines becomes a member of the United Nations | |
| December 30 | The Kalibapi is organized by the Japanese | |
| 1943 | 28 May | Shigenori Kuroda appointed as Japanese Military Governor (1943–1942) |
| June 20 | Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo nominates an all Filipino 20 member Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence | |
| September 4 | The Philippine Preparatory Commission for Independence drafts a new Constitution which provides for a unicameral national assembly | |
| September 20 | The 108 delegates to the National Assembly are chosen by the members of the Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence. | |
| September | Jose P. Laurel elected President of the Philippines by the National Assembly | |
| October 14 | The puppet government is inaugurated. Laurel takes his oath of office | |
| November | The Philippine economy collapses, the shortage of rice becomes serious. | |
| 1944 | May | The puppet government inaugurates the Green Revolution Movement. |
| August 1 | Sergio Osmena assumes the Office of the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines after the death of Manuel Quezon | |
| September 21 | US forces raids Manila | |
| September 26 | Tomoyuki Yamashita appointed as Japanese Military Governor (1944–1945) | |
| October 20 | General MacArthur lands in Palo, Leyte, accompanied by President Sergio Osmena and US troops | |
| October 23 | The Commonwealth government of the Philippines is re-established in Tacloban, Leyte | |
| December 8 | Pro-Japanese Philippine generals Pio Duran and Benigno Ramos organize the Makapilis | |
| 1945 | February 4 | US troops enter Manila |
| February 22 | Hukbalahap troop leaders arrested by the US forces | |
| February 24 | The Battle of Manila ends. The Japanese surrender to the combined US and Filipino troops | |
| February 27 | MacArthur hands over Malacanang Palace to Osmena. | |
| March 3 | The US and Filipino troops recaptured Manila. | |
| March 22 | The families of pro-Japanese President Laurel and Speaker Aquino leave The Country for Japan to seek refuge | |
| June 5 | The Congress elected in 1941 convenes for the first time | |
| July 5 | General MacArthur announces the liberation of the Philippines | |
| August 6 | The American forces drop an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. | |
| August 9 | The American forces an atomic bomb over Nagasaki, Japan. | |
| August 15 | The Empire of Japan accepts defeat | |
| September 12 | Jose P. Laurel is arrested by the US army | |
| December | Manuel Roxas separates from the Nacionalista Party of Sergio Osmena Sr and joins the Liberal Party | |
| 1946 | April 20 | Manuel Roxas wins in the last Presidential Election under the Commonwealth |
| July 4 | The United States recognizes the Independence of the Republic of the Philippines | |
| September 30 | The Amended Tenancy Act is promulgated. | |
| 1947 | January 28 | President Roxas issues an amnesty proclamation to collaborators |
| March 6 | HUKBALAHAP declared illegal | |
| April 15 | President Roxas dies from a heart attack at Clark Air Field; Vice President Quirino Assumes the Office of President | |
| April 17 | Elpidio Quirino takes his oath of office as President of the Philippines | |
| September 8 | The Philippine representative to the Far Eastern Commission, Carlos P. Romulo, signs the Japanese Peace Treaty | |
| 1950 | August 31 | President Quirino appoints Ramon Magsaysay as Secretary of the Department of National Defense |
| 1951 | August | The National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) is established |
| 1953 | November 10 | Ramon Magsaysay is elected President of the Republic of the Philippines |
| December 30 | Magsaysay takes his oath of office | |
| 1954 | July 21 | The Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty is signed in Manila, creating the South East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) |
| December 15 | The Laurel-Langley Agreement is signed | |
| 1957 | March 17 | President Magsaysay dies in a plane crash; Vice-President Carlos P. Garcia assumes the presidency |
| November 14 | Carlos P. Garcia elected President of the Republic of the Philippines | |
| 1958 | August 28 | The Filipino first policy is promulgated |
| 1961 | December 7 | Diosdado Macapagal elected President of the Republic of the Philippines |
| December 30 | Macapagal takes his oath of office | |
| 1965 | November 9 | Ferdinand Marcos elected President of the Republic of the Philippines |
| December 30 | Ferdinand Marcos takes his oath of office | |
| 1968 | December 26 | A new Communist Party of the Philippines established by Jose Sison |
| 1969 | March 29 | Jos Sison formally organizes the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, The New People's Army |
| November 7 | Ferdinand Marcos re-elected President of the Republic of the Philippines | |
| 1970 | November 17 | Elections for 315 members of a Constitutional Convention held. |
| 1971 | June 1 | The Constitutional Convention assembles to rewrite the 1935 Constitution. The Convention elects former President Carlos Garcia as its head. |
| June 14 | Garcia dies and former President Diosdado Macapagal takes over the top position at the Convention. | |
| August 21 | Plaza Miranda bombed during the election campaign of the Liberal Party | |
| August 22 | President Marcos suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus | |
| 1972 | Suspicious bombing incidents increase all over The Country . The MNLF launches its campaign for the independence of the Muslim provinces. | |
| September 21 | President Marcos signs the Martial Law Edict (at that time not publicly announced). | |
| September 22 | Marcos places the entire country under martial law | |
| September 23 | Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. is arrested | |
| September 23 | The implementation of martial law is officially announced | |
| September 26 | The whole country is proclaimed a land reform area and an Agrarian Reform Program is decreed. | |
| October 21 | Marcos passes the Tenant's Emancipation Patent | |
| October 21 | The first major armed defiance of martial law takes place in Lanao del Sur | |
| October 22 | The battle between the MNLF and the government troops ends with the latter regaining control of the city. | |
| November 29 | The Constitutional Convention passes the new Constitution of the Philippines. | |
| 1973 | Misuari leaves The Country for Libya to solicit armed support from Muslim countries for the war in Mindanao. | |
| January 10 | A plebiscite referendum is held among the citizens' assemblies to ratify the new Constitution | |
| April | The National Democratic Front (NDF), the united front organization of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is formally organized. | |
| July 27 | Marcos' term as President extended by virtue of a referendum | |
| 1974 | February 27 | Presidential appointments to local elective positions declared legal by virtue of another referendum |
| December 1 | Jose Sison's essay entitled Specific Characteristics of Our People's War published | |
| 1976 | January 4 | New people's Army Spokesman Satur Ocampo arrested |
| August 26 | Kumander Dante of the New People's Army arrested | |
| October 16 | Martial Law allowed to exted by virtue of a Plebicte | |
| December 23 | Tripoli Agreement signed | |
| August 17 | An earthquake of 7.8 magnitude and a following tsunami (flood wave) kills 8,000 people on and off the coast of Mindanao. | |
| 1977 | January 20 | The Armed Forces of the Philippines enters into a ceasefire agreement with the MNLF. |
| March 4 | President Marcos issues a decree creating the autonomous Bangsa Moro Islamic Government | |
| November 10 | The CPP head Jose Maria Sison arrested | |
| December 16 | A referendum is held, the result of which again empowers the President to continue in office, and to become Prime Minister as well. | |
| 1978 | Rodolfo Salas takes over the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines. | |
| April 8 | Members of the Interim Batasang Pambansa are elected. | |
| 1983 | August 21 | Benigno Aquino, Jr. assassinated |
| 1984 | Philippine parliamentary election, 1984 | |
| 1986 | February 6 | Philippine presidential election, 1986 |
| EDSA Revolution ousts President Marcos; Corazon Aquino becomes president | ||
| 1987 | Philippine legislative election, 1987 | |
| 1991 | Senate rejects renewal of U.S military bases in the Philippines | |
| 1992 | Philippine general election, 1992 (Fidel V. Ramos is elected) | |
| 1995 | Philippine general election, 1995 | |
| 1997 | Asian financial crisis | |
| 1998 | Philippine general election, 1998 (Joseph Estrada is elected) | |
| Centennial of Philippines Independence | ||
| 2000 | President Estrada declares an "all-out-war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). | |
| President Estrada impeached by House of Representatives |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Philippine History