The Never Ending Democratization of the Philippines 75 CHAPTER THREE The Never Ending Democratization of the Philippines 1 Malaya C. Ronas Introduction A glimmer of European liberalism reached our shores in the 19th century when Napoleon annexed Spain as part of the French Empire. Napoleon made his brother Joseph, the King of Spain. This led to a civil war. The anti-French rebels, supported by the British, sought sanctuary in Cadiz. There they wrote the Cadiz Constitution of 1812. Before the proclamation of the constitution, the “Spanish government at that time issued a decree granting all of its colonies representation as provinces in the Spanish Cortes through deputies chosen by the various capital cities” (Pedrosa 2011). This representation was short-lived. But it was this shining moment that inspired the Filipinos in their quest for equality and freedom. Their quest found expression in the Propaganda Movement and later, the Philippine Revolution of 1896. This dream was aborted by the Americans when they conquered our newly proclaimed Republic in their drive for imperialist expansion. The process of formal democratization in the Philippines started with the liberalization of the American colonial government which aimed to institute “a 'colonial democracy' ran by Filipinos under American sovereignty” (Abueva in Miranda 1997: 6). The authoritarian rule of the military governor-general was replaced by the civilian Philippine Commission in 1902. The rst ever local elections under American tutelage were held in the same year. The rst Philippine Assembly composed of elected Filipino representatives was convened in 1907. The rst Filipino Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in the person of Cayetano Arellano, completed the presence of Filipinos in the high councils of the American colonial government.