Philippine historians held different views and beliefs regarding the Philippine Presidency during the periods known as Philippine Revolution and Filipino-American War. These historians have identified the people on the list below as having held the Presidency of a government intended to represent the Philippines. However, their terms of office are not counted by the Philippine government as part of the presidential succession.
Andres Bonifacio – First Philippine de facto President
Name: Andres Bonifacio y de Castro
Born: November 30, 1863
Died: May 10, 1897
Term of Office: August 24, 1896 – March 22, 1897 or May 10 1897
Government: Tagalog Republic/De Facto Revolutionary Government
Andres Bonifacio is regarded as the “First President of the Philippines”. He was a Filipino nationalist and revolutionary. He is more popularly known as the founder and later the supreme leader of the Katipunan or KKK, a movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spain. Bonifacio is considered a Philippine de facto national hero. His Tagalog Republic is a term used to refer to two revolutionary bodies involved in the Philippine Revolution against Spain and the Philippine-American War. Both were connected to the Katipunan revolutionary movement.
Bonifacio is considered by some historians to be the de facto first President of the Philippines. He was the third Supreme President or Kataastaasang Pangulo in Tagalog of the Katipunan secret society. Its Supreme Council, led by the Supreme President, coordinated provincial and district councils. When the Katipunan went into open revolt in August 1896, Bonifacio had transformed it into a de facto revolutionary government with him as President. While the term Katipunan remained, Bonifacio's government was also known as the Tagalog Republic (Spanish: Republica Tagala). Although the word Tagalog refers to a specific ethnicity, Bonifacio used it to denote all indigenous people in the Philippines in place of Filipino which had colonial origins. In place of the Spanish Filipinas he coined a Tagalog name, Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation).
Name: Miguel Malvar y Carpio
Born: September 27, 1865
Died: October 13, 1911
Term of Office: April 1901 to April 1902
Government: First Republic or Malolos Republic
Miguel Malvar was a Filipino commander who served during the Philippine Revolution and Fil-Am War. He assumed command of the Philippine revolutionary forces during the latter conflict following the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901.
Notable Filipino historians contend that including Bonifacio as a past president would imply that Miguel Malvar should also be included as Philippine Presidents. Gen. Malvar continued Aguinaldo’s leadership of the First Philippine Republic after the Aguinaldo’s capture until his own capture in 1902.He was the last Filipino general who surrendered to the Americans.
Name: Macario Sakay y de Leon
Died: September 13, 1907 –executed by hanging
Term of Office: May 6, 1902 to July 14, 1906
Government: Tagalog Republic/Republika ng Katagalugan
Vice President: Francisco Marcos Carreon
Macario Sakay was a Filipino general in the Philippine Revolution against Spain and in subsequently in the Fil-Am. War. He continued resistance against the US following the official American declaration of the war’s end in 1902 and in the following year became president of the Tagalog Republic. Sakay founded the Tagalog Republic as a continuation of Bonifacio’s Katipunan. Bonifacio and Sakay are both considered by some scholars as "unofficial presidents". Bonifacio, Malvar and Sakay are not recognized as Presidents by the Philippine government.