The first inauguration of president Ferdinand Marcos, December 30, 1965. Philippine Presidential Museum and Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Western imperialism has a long history in the Philippines. Hundreds of years of Spanish colonisation, beginning in the 1500s, culminated in the Spanish-American War in 1897. The first attempt to declare the Philippine Republic in 1899 was followed by the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), then American control, Japanese occupation during Worl