<figure class="image-550">
<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-299/La-Independencia-sept-18-1899-t.webp" alt="Historic front page of La Independencia newspaper from September 18, 1899, featuring the masthead 'Órgano del pueblo filipino Diario de la Tarde', and columns of Spanish text on aged yellowed paper." loading="lazy" />
<figcaption>
Issue of La Independencia dated September 18, 1899, during the Philippine-American War - a key revolutionary organ that continued publishing nationalist content amid advancing U.S. forces.
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<h2>
Revolutionary Press in 1898
</h2>

<p>
The appearance of La Independencia must be understood in the context of a brief flowering of revolutionary newspapers after the resumption of the struggle against Spain in 1898. Earlier that year, <a href="/articles/3242/today-in-filipino-history-november-23-1876-jose-clemente-zulueta-was-born-in-paco-manila" class="news_link">Clemente J. Zulueta</a> and others launched <b>La Libertad</b> on <time datetime="1898-06-20">June 20, 1898</time>, only for it to be suppressed weeks later when <a href="/articles/3325/emilio-aguinaldos-life-and-leadership" class="news_link">Emilio Aguinaldo</a> issued a decree requiring government permission for all publications during wartime.
</p>
<p>
Aguinaldo's July 4 decree closed La Libertad but at the same time created space for officially authorized revolutionary papers. It was in this political environment - seeking both to protect the revolutionary government and to harness the press for nation‑building - that Antonio Luna moved quickly to secure a license for his own newspaper.
</p>
<h2>
Founding of La Independencia
</h2>
<p>
After learning of Aguinaldo's restrictions, Luna applied to the revolutionary government for authorization to publish a newspaper that would speak for the newly proclaimed Philippine Republic. He initially proposed to call the paper La Patria ("The Homeland"), but the American provost general in Manila advised against the name, fearing it might rekindle Spanish–Filipino tensions at a delicate moment when Americans and Filipinos were still nominal allies.
</p>
<p>
Luna and his colleagues ultimately chose the name La Independencia ("Independence"), signaling that the paper's central cause was full national sovereignty. Luna described the paper as a kind of continuation or revival of <a href="/kauswagan/articles/1344/today-in-philippine-history-november-15-1895-the-la-solidaridad-stopped-publication" class="news_link">La Solidaridad</a>, the pre‑revolutionary reformist organ in Spain, but now addressed to a people openly fighting for independence rather than for reforms within the Spanish empire.
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La Independencia's First Issue – September 3, 1898

Discover the first issue of La Independencia on September 3, 1898, and its role as the leading revolutionary newspaper of the Philippine Revolution.

September 3, 1898: La Independencia came out with its first issue