Exhibit on 125th anniversary of Malolos Congress opens in Senate

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda will lead the unveiling of an exhibit commemorating the 125th anniversary of Malolos Congress at the Senate building in Pasay City on Monday, 18 September.

The exhibit, titled "Bakit Malolos?" and organized by Legarda's office in coordination with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, will run 18-21 September 2023.

"We hope to remind the Filipino people, including our fellow lawmakers, the importance of our past as our history helps us calculate our next steps in preparing for the future," Legarda said.

"The Malolos Congress helped signal to the world that Asians were capable of self-governing; it was a preview of what then-colonized countries could do if given autonomy and independence," she added.

Originally an online exhibit during the pandemic, the exhibit features the names of the delegates to the Malolos Congress and the facsimile of the First Constitution.

Ariston Rendon Gella, Antique's first pharmacist and the great-grandfather of Legarda, was one of its delegates.

The exhibit also features several busts depicting historical figures such as the Republic's first president, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, and cabinet member Apolinario Mabini.

The exhibit also shows scale models of the Barasoain Church and the Malolos Congress.

NHCP Chairman Emmanuel Calairo and Museum Curator Ruel Paguiligan will grace the exhibit.

The Malolos Congress played an important role in Philippine history as it ratified the Declaration of Independence and drafted the country's first Constitution months after the country declared independence from Spain on 12 June 1898, in Kawit, Cavite.

It also paved the way for the Philippines to be the first republican democracy in Asia.