3000 b.c.e. Austronesian people begin arriving in the Philippines via Taiwan

500 b.c.e. Philippine ports begin trading with China, Southeast Asia, and India

700 c.e. Philippine trading intensifies under the Sri-Vijaya Empire (Indonesia)

1200s Muslim (Arab and Persian) trading ports begin to form in Southeast Asia

1400s Ming Chinese traders dominate the sea-lanes

1414 Prince Parameswara converts Mallaca into a great Muslim sea emporium

1450 Sayyid Abuy Bakhr establishes Sulu as a prominent center of Muslim trade and culture

1493 Pope Alexander VI issues Treaty of Tordesillas

1497 The Portuguese, under Vasco da Gama, reach West India

1521 Ferdinand Magellan arrives in the Philippines. King Lapu-Lapu defeats Magellan, and his flotillas sail away

1557 The Portuguese capture Maccau and toll all Southeast Asian trade to the Arab coast

1565–1898 Spain colonizes the Philippines

1565 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi takes possession of Cebu

1571 Spain transfers its main navy base to Manila

1572 Manila becomes the center of Galleon Trade between Mexico and China

1577–1606 Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, and Recollects enter the Philippines

1578 Spanish begin intermittent invasions of parts of Mindanao

1581 Bishop Salazar convenes first Catholic synod in Manila

1619–1671 Sultan Kudarat establishes formidable Maguindanao sultanate of Cotobato

1639 The Chinese revolt around Manila against conscript labor policy

1745 Rebellions break out in Bulacan, Batangas, Laguna, and Cavite

1762–1763 The British invade and occupy Manila

1763–1840 Chinese immigration to the Philippines is closed

1768 The Jesuits are ordered back to Spain. The archbishop of Manila supports the ordination of Filipino priests and transfer of parishes from missionary orders to diocesan orders

1872 Two hundred soldiers at Cavite revolt and call for independence. Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora are garroted to death for inspiring insurrection

1880s Filipino Propaganda Movement gained ascendance

1888 La Solidaridad was founded by Graciano Lopez Jaena

1892 Jose Rizal founded the secret Liga Filipina order of the Propaganda Movement

1892 Andre Bonifacio initiates the Katipunan revolutionary movement

1896 Jose Rizal is accused of inciting rebellion and executed. General Emilio Aguinaldo replaces Bonifacio and leads the revolution

1896–1898 Filipino revolution for independence from Spanish colonialism

1897 Pact of Biak-na-Bato, a truce to cease fire. Revolutionary leadership goes into exile in Hong Kong

1898–1946 Colonization of the Philippines by the United States

1898 United States declares war on Spain. Commodore George Dewey allies with General Aguinaldo, who returns to the Philippines and declares independence. The United States signs the Paris Peace Treaty and purchases the Philippines from Spain for $20 million. President William McKinley proclaims “benevolent assimilation” and dispatches 70,000 troops to “pacify” the Philippines. The Filipino Revolutionary Congress declares and approves the First Republic and constitution with Aguinaldo as president 1900 Federalist Party launched by some 125 landed, elite Filipino collaborators

1901 President Aguinaldo is captured. President McKinley announces the end of the “insurrection.” William Taft becomes the first civil governor. Major General Adna Chaffee succeeds General Arthur MacArthur and assigns Brigadier General Bell to conduct operations of terror in southern Luzon; General Smith’s Samar campaign razes and massacres village populations

1902 General Miguel Malvar surrenders at Batangas, which officially ends the First Republic. Revolutionary guerilla operations commence underground. President Roosevelt officially announces the end of the war

1904 William Howard Taft recalled to the U.S. mainland to become secretary of war. Luke Wright becomes the new governor-general

1907 Elections first held for National Assembly. Nationalistas become dominant party. Sergio Osmena Sr. is elected Speaker of the House, and Manuel Quezon elected majority floor leader

1909 U.S. Congress passes Payne Aldrich Bill (free-trade provision), and it is ratified by the Filipino assembly

1913 Francis B. Harrison becomes governor-general, until 1913, and implements the Filipinization policy

1916 President Wilson signs the Jones Law granting Philippine independence as soon as a stable government could be implemented. Philippine Commission is replaced by the Senate and House of Representatives

1921 President Harding dispatches Wood-Forbes Commission. General Leonard Wood, former military major general of Cuba and then the Muslim area of Mindanao, is appointed the new governor-general of the Philippines

1928 Henry Stimson succeeds Woods (deceased) as governor general

1929 Dwight Davis is appointed the new governor-general

1933 President Roosevelt appoints pro-Independence advocate, Frank Murphy, as the new governor-general

1934 Tydings-McDuffe Act (Philippine Independence Act) enacted into law

1935 The new constitution is approved by President Franklin Roosevelt and the Filipino plebiscite. Quezon is elected president, and Osmenia vice president of the new commonwealth government

1936 Paul McNutt, who, unsuccessfully, argues against independence, becomes the new governor-general

1939 Francis Sayer of Harvard University and former secretary of state appointed new governor-general charged with preparing the Philippines for independence

1941 Quezon and Osmena are reelected, and the Philippine army is called into active service to fight against the Japanese invasion

1942 General Wainwright surrenders at Corregidor, which marks the end of the military’s resistance, although guerilla units continue to resist the Japanese. Formation of Hukbong Bayan laban sa Hapon or Hukbalahap, also referred to as HUK (People’s Army Against the Japanese)

1943 Japan-sponsored Second Republic of the Philippines is inaugurated with Jose Laurel as president

1944 President Quezon dies in New York. General Douglas MacArthur and his forces land on Leyte, with President Osmena, General Carlos Romulo, and General Basilio Valdez, who reinstate the commonwealth government

1945 General MacArthur transfers the powers of government to President Osmenia. Roxas splits from the Nationalistas and forms the Liberal Party

1946 The Philippine Congress approves the Bell Trade Act, which grants the United States parity rights and free rent for its military bases. Roxas defeats Osmena and declares the HUK and similar peasant organizations illegal

Communist organizations

1948 President Roxas, who dies of a heart attack, is succeeded by his vice president, Quirino

1950 President Truman’s Economic Survey Mission, also known as the Bell Commission, recommends rural reform, increasing production, and raising incomes. CIA Agent Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lansdale arrives to conduct counterinsurgency operations against the HUK. The armed forces of the Philippines (AFP) captures the top leadership of the Communist Party in Manila

1951 National Association for the Maintenance of Free Elections is established

1953 Magsaysay resigns from the Liberal Party to join the Nationalistas and is elected president

1954 The commander of the HUK forces, Luis Taruc, surrenders. Passage of the Agricultural Tenancy Act, which was established to deal with tenancy problems as well as to set up an agricultural credit and financing administration

1957 President Magsaysay dies in an airplane crash. Vice President Carlos Garcia is inducted into the office of president and wins the elections for another term

1958 President Garcia implements the Filipino First policy, which meets with opposition from the American, Chinese, and Chinese Filipino business communities

1960 International Rice Institute is established to develop new hybrid varieties of rice and corn with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation

1961 Diosdado Macapagal is elected president and establishes the Program Implementation Agency to open up the economy

1963 Agricultural Land Reform Code passed by Congress, after they tack on some 200 amendments that protect their own personal assets

1965 Ferdinand Marcos changes his affiliation from the Liberal Party to the Nationalistas to run for office and is elected president. U.S. military bases in the Philippines become an important staging ground for the war in Vietnam

1968 Marcos launches military operations in Mindanao. Nur Misuari establishes the Moro National Liberation Front against the Marcos regime

1969 President Marcos and Vice President Lopez win a second term in office in a rigged election. The New People’s Army, the armed branch of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is established

1971 Marcos stages several bombings, including the bombing of the Liberal Party rally held at Miranda Plaza, and accuses the Communists and suspends habeas corpus

1972 Marcos declares martial law and rounds up and arrests hundreds of critics, including Aquino and many others. Central Luzon is selected to test the Green Revolution, which aimed to increase production through hybrid varieties of rice and artificial inputs

1975 Aquino is brought before a military court and goes on a hunger strike

1977 Aquino is sentenced to death

1978 Marcos calls an election for an interim National Assembly. Jailed Aquino becomes the inspiration of the opposition that looses to Marcos’s party (Kilusang Bagong Lipunan: New Society Movement)

1979 Aquino suffers a heart attack and is released from prison to undergo surgery in the United States

1981 Marcos lifts martial law and runs for reelection unopposed

1983 Aquino returns to the Philippines and is assassinated. His death inspires massive protests, and Cardinal Jamie Sin becomes more vocal in his criticism of the Marcos government

1984 Marcos suddenly calls for a “snap” presidential election. Cory Aquino declares her candidacy. The Communist Party calls for a boycott

1986 Marcos rigs the results and insists that he has won the election. A group of young officers organize RAM (Reform the Armed Forces Movement) and a coup. Marcos’s forces, under General Ver, retaliate against them. Archbishop Sin mobilizes the massive People Power movement that surrounds and protects RAM. U.S. President Ronald Reagan scurries the Marcos family to Hawaii. Aquino assumes the

Presidency

1987 President Aquino establishes a revolutionary government under the Freedom Constitution. General Ramos quells several RAM-led coups; Aquino moves to the conservative right, reneging on campaign promises of change

1991 The Aquino administration passes the Local Government Code

1992 Fidel Ramos becomes the newly elected president. He appoints Vice President Estrada the chief of the Anti-Crime Commission. Kidnappings increase, especially of wealthy Chinese Filipinos

1993 President Ramos announces his Medium Term Development Plan to make the Philippines a developed country by the year 2000 and successfully breaks up some state-owned monopolies in telecommunications, shipping, and domestic airlines

1997 Asian economic crisis hits the Philippines

1998 President Ramos ends the International Monetary Fund’s assistance; calls for a “Cha Cha” (charter change) to prolong his stay in office, which fails to gain support. Joseph Estrada becomes the new president

2000 The Abu Sayyaf Group abducts 23 teachers and 30 students in Basilan, and, after the cross fire between the government’s soldiers and Abu Sayyaf terrorists, four hostages are found dead. Revelations of President Estrada taking payoffs from illegal gambling syndicates and national lottery funds, among other acts of malfeasance, lead to his impeachment trials, which are blocked by his allies in the Senate

2001 People Power II revolution demands Estrada’s resignation. Gloria Arroyo Macapagal is declared vice president and sworn in by the Supreme Court as the new president. Abu Sayyaf kidnaps 16 people from a central Philippine resort, and AFP military officers are indicted and accused of helping the group escape in exchange for cash payment

2002 President Arroyo Macapagal supports U.S. President Bush’s war on terror and deploys Philippine troops who, later, are assisted by the U.S. military in pursuit of Abu Sayyaf in Basilan

2004 President Arroyo Macapagal is elected to another six-year term. Opposition marches on the presidential palace, claiming election fraud

2005 President Arroyo Macapagal offers to submit herself to due process and stands trial before Congress. The parliamentary body formally rejects the motion by the opposition

2007 President Arroyo Macapagal’s government continues to maintain political stability in the face of opposition

2010 The start of the new administration under the presidency of Benigno Simeon (Noy-noy) Aquino III and the end of Arroyo’s futile and corrupt leadership.