Commonwealth of the Philippines: 1935-1941

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Chap 14, pg 1

Chapter 14: Philippine Commonwealth 1935-1941The Commonwealth of the Philippines was the political designation of thePhilippines from 1935 to 1946 when the country was a commonwealth withthe United States. Before this, the Philippines had been a U.S. territory.The creation of the Commonwealth was envisioned under the Tydings-McDuf e Act, as a ten-year transitional government in preparation for fullPhilippine independence and sovereignty, which was scheduled for 1946.

What is a commonwealth? One dictionary de nes it as “ A group of sovereign states and their dependencies as- sociated by their own choice and linked with common objectives and interests. ”

This suggests that a commonwealth relationship is voluntary. But the Philippine-American Commonwealth was obviously not based on a voluntary history: a bloodywar of domination which killed hundreds of thousands of Filipinos had been requiredto forge a bond between the Philippines and the United States.

In 1934 Manuel Quezon triumphantly returned to Manila and engineered rati ca -tion of the Tydings-McDuf e Act by the Philippine Assembly.

Now, a constitution was needed for the soon-to-be-proclaimed Commonwealth. A constitutional conventionwas convened in Manila in July 1934, and the document was written with an eye to meeting the approval of theUnited States Government as well, so as to ensure that the U.S. would live up to its promise to grant the Philip-

pines independence.

The completed constitution was overwhelmingly approved by plebiscite in March 1935, and then signed into law byPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1935 Philippine Commonwealth Constitution



Chap 14, pg 21935 Philippine General Election

National elections for the Commonwealth were held in October 1935. Candidatesfor President included former president Emilio Aguinaldo, Iglesia Filipina In -depediente leader Gregorio Aglipay, and Manuel Quezon. Quezon and Osmeña,reconciled after their disagreements over the independence act, ran on a CoalitionParty ticket and were elected president and vice president, respectively.

On November 15, 1935 the new PhilippineCommonwealth was inaugurated at the legislative

building in Manila.

The new government established nation-building policies in preparation for independence. These includednational defense, economic development, continued Filipinization of the government, reforms in education,improvement of transport, industrialization, and the colonization of Mindanao.

However, the future of the commonwealth was in doubt due to various external factors: the fear of war in Asia,questions about American commitment to the future Republic of the Philippines, and a global economic crsisdue to the Great Depression. In the Philippines itself, there were problems resulting from agrarian unrest and

power struggles between Osmeña and Quezon.

Commonwealth Inauguration

Storm clouds on the horizon

Stuck in PovertyAlthough the Philippine economy was growing, wealth was dividedvery unequally: landlords grew rich at the expense of peasant farm-ers who found were unable to repay loans for seed or lease moneymade by the landlords. Productivity remained low as peasants tilledland owned by absentee landlords or by the Church, who demanded50 or even 70 percent of the crop as rent and payment for seed.By 1941, 80 percent of Luzon farmers were hopelessly indebted totheir landlords. The absence of social reforms caused resentmentamongst the poor and encouraged anti-government insurgencies.



Chap 14, pg 3

The Threat of JapanOne of the biggest concerns at this time was the threat apparently posed by Japan, thePhilippines’ neighbor to the north.Japan had become increasingly aggressive since invading Manchuria in 1931.

President Quezon invited American General Douglas MacArthur to be the rst

commanding of cer of the newly-renamed Armed Forces of the Philippines. Mac -Arthur’s of cial title was Military Adviser to the Commonwealth of thePhilippines and he enthusiastically accepted the new position. MacArthur had

previously served in the Philippines in 1904-1906, after graduating from the U.S.Military Academy. Quezon and MacArthur had met during MacArthur’s rst

posting to the Philippines in 1904, and the two had been friends ever since.When MacArthur returned in 1935, the two men began working closely together.

Military defense of the Philippines was a controversial subject. Most American military strategists felt stronglythat the Philippines could not be successfully defended against Japanese, attack. General MacArthur disagreedwith them. When Quezon asked him if the Philippines could be defended after independence, MacArthur isquoted as responding: “ I don’t think so. I know they can defend themselves .”MacArthur decided to model the AFP on the “Swiss model”: a core of 11,000 Filipino regular soldiers whowould train 400,000 native troops to be mobilized at the outbreak of war.

* The Armed Forces of the Philippines was expanded with newrecruits.* Training of soldiers was accelerated.* New weapons were purchased.* The defenses of Manila and Subic Bay were improved.

Defending the Philippines

General Douglas MacArthur



Chap 14, pg 4

In 1937, President Quezon reportedly told an American reporter “ If I did not be-lieve that the Philippines could defend itself, I would commit suicide .”Vowing to stand by the United States, he af rmed that “ The cause for which

America would fght is our cause .”He also pondered delaying Philippine independence to guarantee U.S. protectionof the Commonwealth.

In 1937 Japan started a full-scale war against China. Aswar clouds gathered over the rest of Asia, Quezon grewincreasingly worried that the Philippines would be unableto defend itself in case of Japanese attack. He traveled toJapan in 1938, reportedly to seek an arrangement with theJapanese Government: if the Philippines quickly achievedindependence and declared itself neutral in any futurecon ict, would this guarantee that the Japanese would notinvade the islands?The Japanese government refused to offer such a guarantee.

Quezon returned to the Philippines and began making moves to demonstrate Philippine neutrality:* He requested Philippine independence in 1940, six years ahead of schedule.* He limited MacArthur’s control of the armed forces and even MacArthur’s access to his own (Quezon’s) of -

ce.* He cut the military budget, closed training camps and reduced arms purchases.* He reportedly told a crowd that the Philippines “could not be defended even if every last Filipino were armedwith modern weapons.”

Japanese strategic planning during this period had several goals:*Victory over China which would offer resources and a large labor force forJapan’s growing industrial machine;*Invasions of French Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, and British Malaya.*Attacking the Philippines and Guam so as to lure the United States eetacross the Paci c to defend its colonies; then, destroy the American eet in adecisive battle.

Was the Philippines prepared for War?

President Quezon wavers

Japanese Plans



Chap 14, pg 5

1941 The USA Prepares for War The United States was very concerned about the growing threat of war.

In July 1941, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the following:• Banning of sales of American commodities, especially oil, to Japan, andfreezing of all Japanese assets within the USA;• Creation of the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) command;• Absorption of the Philippine Army into the new command;

• General Douglas MacArthur to command the new force.

In the second half of 1941, fresh American soldiers arrived in Manila to beef up thesmall U.S. garrison. There were military parades in Manila to give the impressionthe Philippines was prepared for war. But the military equipment that arrived in thePhilippines from the US was mostly old and decrepit: ri es from World War I, obso -lete mortars and howitzers, a small amount of ammunition, and only a few modernairplanes.MacArthur complained that he had received “ too little, too late .”

On September 1, General MacArthur ordered the full mobilization of thePhilippine Army. Ten Filipino reserve divisions were called into the serviceof the United States Army. However the battalions were not organized byDecember 1941.In spite of propaganda photos which showed well-armed troops, thePhilippines was poorly prepared for a Japanese invasion.

Commonwealth of the Philippines: 1935-1941

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