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
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“The fact that women in the home have shut themselves away from the thought and life of the world has done much to retard progress. We fill the world with the children of 20th century A.D. fathers and 20th century B.C. mothers.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)