The worst thing about it was that the Americans would be less disposed to recognize Aguinaldo's government; for when they saw the constitution they would know, as it made no mention of them, that the Filipinos wanted independence.

Mabini thought that it was possible that the wording of the constitution might have been deliberately planned by members of the congress in favour of annexation to the United States, so that that country would be warned, would become more mistrustful, and would refuse to recognize Aguinaldo's government.

Whatever the president of the council may have thought about the theoretical advisability of a congress to represent the people, he found one much in the way when he had obtained it.
Buencamino advised that the constitution should be approved and promulgated; one argument was that the congress had been consulted in the matter of a national loan, and if it was dissolved, there could be no loan.

This was apparently the only matter upon which it had been consulted.

[391] The constitution of the Philippine Republic was ratified at a session of the congress on January 20, 1899.
On January 21, 1899, Aguinaldo sanctioned it and ordered that it should be "kept, complied with and executed in all its parts because it is the sovereign will of the Philippine people." [392] The constitution provided for a government of three cooerdinate powers, executive, legislative and judicial.