The Filipino Colonial State, 1902 1946.

Politics and The Phil. Assembly

19th Century Spanish officials + ilustrados = thought about state.

New 20th century governers = providing superiority of American rule + democracy.
- priorities:
- created state agencies; DepEd central to goal of creating unified citizenry.
- Speedy establishment of representative institutions from municipal to national level.
- Crucial element: representation
- Early 20th century norm: institutions of purely national power presidency, federal
armed forced had less institutional strength than congress / courts.
o Political parties fought hard to keep power based in congress; deployed to patronage
and appropriations.

Men sent to govern Philippines: men of courts and parties

- William Howard Taft - first gov general
- Luke E Wright
- President McKinleys instruction to Phil Commission 1900 reflected localist temperament:
distribution of powers.. always in favor of small subd.
- David Barrows direct of bureau non-christian tribes: American commissioners had in view
the American country as a model.

Representative System built local level up

- 1900 The Opportunity to Manage Their Own Local Affairs McKinley instrutcions to
commission
- 1901 December municipal elections
- 1902 Feb Provincial governers.
- 1907 Election of representatives to Philippine Assembly
o Elites took advantage. Party affiliation necessary,
o Nacionalistas (upperhand) instant win
o Now, there was a political ladder.
o Focus of state building moved from institutionalist concerns of Malolos to
politics
o Philippine assembly accdg to Bonifacio Salamanca Matrix from which real Philippine
autonomy evolved.
- Formation of national elite out of local power. Institutionalist to politics
o Manuel Quezon tayabas
o Sergio Osmea - Cebu City.
Tax System
- Centralized
- Institutionalized: 65% went to Manila.
After Months of Phil. Assembly, Fil politicians pushing American patience:
- Passing laws beneficial to their own interests, investigating colonial budget, criticizing
policies of Phil. Commission (de facto upper house)
- Taft used veto powers to override self-serving laws, limit legislative spending, depend
executive appointments.
1909 Forbes became Governor-General
- Osmena + Quezon: poitical back-scratching and the game of favors
- Next step: get a foot in the door for executive.
o Osmena: within assembly
o Quezon: more astute, resident commissioner for the PH in the US. Lobbied for Ph
interests
Filipinization
- US republicans vs Democrats Presidents
o Republicans: Mckinley, Roosevelt, Taft: first decade of colonial rule, expected long
duration.
o Democrat: Woodrow Wilson (1912) vision of shorter duration of supervision.
o 1912: New Gov-Gen Francis Burton Harrison task was to implement the
filipinization of the colonial state.
Quezon lobbied hard for this.
First orders: curtail American executive power, esp. oversight of
provincial and local govt.
Encouraged many American bureaucrats to resign by cutting their
salaries.
 Broadened Filipino power gave nacionalistas free hand in
determining local and provincial appointments.
Allowed assembly to collect documents from executives.
Allowed assembly to determine budget allocations
Moro and mountain provines: transfer of authority to Filipino officials
Muslim elites became part of hierarchy
Long period of stability in muslim south
1916 Philippine Autonomy Act 1916 / Jones Law
- Abolished Philippine Commission- new bicameral legislature.
- Council of State -> to harmonize legislative and executive departments.
- Gov-Gen diminished power
- Filipinos now equal say in all aspect of policy making, budget prep, defining functions of
depts.
- Nacionalistas controlled both houses.
o Quezon: Senate President
o Osmea: lower house
1920s: Crony Capitalism
- Primitive accumulation of members of legislature
o spoils system distributed offices to relatives / supporters cronies became standard
practice entry to govt backing of politicians. An appointee facilitated business success
of his patron and protexted other members of his network
o another way of material enrichment: spoils system into exonomy. Colonial
economic development: PNB created to finance sugar production and exportation
taken over by osmena. Money was used for political debt.
o Manila Railroad Company(MRC) source of employment for supporters in manila (did
not use this for own benefit_ politicized lang for his own benefit. Hired profesionals: Jose
N Paez represented group of merit-based and non-political service.
o Vicente Sotto most vocal critic of Nacionalista; waste of money daw
independence missions
Restraining Politics
Philippine Tariff Act of 1902
- Provided 25% reduction on goods coming from the PH much lower than the 75
percent reduction in which the PH called for
- Anti-Imperialist Americans: PH too far away to make investment profitable.
- Left most of PH economy on PH hands.
- Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act 1909
- Underwood-Simmons Act 1913 (tariff adjustment)

Republican again: Warren Harding,

- appointed Leonard Wood Military gov of the Moro province (gov-gen 1921-1926)
o tried to reassert exec power.
o Tried to reverse policies of Harrison Admin by transferring jurisdiction of muslin area to
executive agencies still under American control.
o In short, he tried to strengthen capacity of central state.
- Osmena + Quezon: ordered nacionalistas to override bills, did not pass bills, cut budget
allocations of gov-gen.
- Wood symbol of anti-filipino American.
- Died Aug 1975. (He was the last attempt by American colonial officials to slow down
Filipinization.

Amid battle against American governers, Quezon and Osmena fought each other for control of
the legislature and Nacionalistasaka control of the state.

Example of squirmish under the Jones Law: Osmenas proposal for quasi-parliamentary government.
- Osmena wanted to be sec of interior while speaker of assembly with this close pa rin sa
American exec but withstanding Fil rivals.
- Quezon did not support.
- Quezon thwarts Osmena by criticizing him publicly for monopolizing power.
1922 Quezon accused Osmena of Authoritarianism and split the Nacionalistas creating his
own Colectivista part for the upcoming elections.
- his party won.
- Short-lved because he again worked with Osmena against woods reassertion of exec.
Prerogative (1921-1926)
- Party structures subordinated to short-term political interest.
After Wood, Fil leaders lobbied Washington to hasten self-govt and Washington responded with
Tydings-Mcduffie Act.
1934 Tydings-Mcduffie Act/ Philippine Independence Act of 1934
- Pres.Washington
- Creation of transitional 10 year Commonwealth of the PH with independence
scheduled for 1946 and con-con to prepare for both.
- Put an end to nacionalista in-fighting as they reunited again to control the con-con.
1935 Commonwealth Constitution
- The existing executive legislative configuration was retained with a single chamber
National Assembly and a popularly elected pres and vp .
-
Popular Insurgncy
- Nacionalistas claim they are for the people of the people but they paid little attention to
landlessness, wages and other urban and rural poor problems in first two decades of colonial
rule.
- 1916 suffrage was widened to include men literate in native languages, but
property qualification still excluded most rural Filipinos
- changed when 1935 Commonwealth Constitution removed property qualifications and
a plebiscite two years later confirmed female suffrage. Literacy still a qualitfication
excluded half of population.
- Filipino de facto control of colonial state and independence around the corner.
- 1937 women suffrage

Small Millenarian movements promise to end landlord rule and deliver independene and rural
prosperity.
- smalls groups attacked constabulary troops, easily repulsed
- rural revolts worried the Americans
- Surge in Popular Protest in 1920s and 1930s due to inadequacy of the evolving
state as to the poverty of the countryside and cities.
o Productivity and diversification did not keep pace.

Effects of Great Depression

- additional disequilibriums

1933 Partido Sakdalista (Benigno Ramos)

1930s one movement alarmed Authorities because its org spanned rural and urban areas: Benigno
Ramos, built up network of supporters in Manila and nearby provinces through his
newspaper, Sakdal To accuse) leading to the establishment of Partido Sakdalista 1933
criticized Nacionalistas.
- called for abolition of tax, independence, equal land, investigation of friar estates, lower pay for
officials and increa labor pay.
- Accused Nacionalistas of kissing American ass.
- This program attracted peasants, urban workers (wages), rural voters (corruption).

1934 General Election

- Sakdal scored impressively; 3 seats in House of Reps
- Partido Komunista ng Pilippinas PKP, Communist Party of the PH (1930)
Challenged Nacionalista oligarchy.

Municipal officials restricted Sakdal political meetings through arrest, deanial to assemble,
harrassments
- they responded with rallies and protests
- Sakdalistas vs Constabulary 1935 May

1935 Elections for Commonwealthy President, VP and National Assembly were held.
- Aguinaldo vs Quezon
- 68% - Quezon
- disunity of poor majority to the uncompromising elite.

Interview: Sakdal Leader Salud Generala Algabre

- sad. worse daw now

Commonwealth of the RP
Origins of the PH Authoritarianism:
 - Quezon used Sakdal uprising and PKP to justify centralization of state power under
his term.
- Quezon; dispensation of patronage and spoils not enough. Wield and epand powers of
presidency.
June 1940 referendum amended the consti to re-create a Senate and House of RP.

Social Changes on the Eve of WWII

Sakdal Revolt Indication of persistence of social problems

- Public education, English, Mass media, Commecialization, electoral politics altered social life
- Rich mestizo families propsper, properties untouched children going for occupations to
enchance status.
- Middle class forming new colleges provided urban white-collar workforce.
- 1939 Filipinos compromised 90 percent of all professionals in Manila
- new Female professionals! <3
Amrican values of indiv achievement, commercialism, populism, spread at the expense of a
marginalized Spanish cultural matrix.
- middle class epitomized this change in culture.
- Political perspective of middle class was influenced more by Quezon and the Nacionalistas than
by the older generation of ilustrado leaders/ revolutionaries.
- Accepted Americal colonial rule
- 1933: Young Philippines Party reformers.
- Protected US market for Phil exports favored Filipino elites and forced chinese to domestic retail

World War II and Second Republic

- December 8 1941 Japanese launched air raid on military facilities in the PH within hours of
their attack on Pearl Harbor.
o Ph-American force tried to defend but failed
o Gen Douglas MacArthur retreated to Australia vowing to liberate PH
o Manuel Quezon, Sergio went to US (govt in exile)
- Japanese: fraternal solidarity with Asian peoples seeking to end western colonialism.
- Japanese colonial regime in the PH invoked nationalist themes of the revolution and
implemented programs to eliminate American influence in society
- Asia for the Asians Japan continued to allow Filipinos to run the government althought they
were more closely supervised than under the commonwealth.
- 1943 Japanese granted the Philippines independence and installed a second
Republic
o puppet regime continuity with Quezons Commonwealthy
o Some collaborated with Japanese.
o Segment of Fil elite that hoped to restore the nationalism of the revolution aborted by
americans and transformed by likes of osmena and quezon.
New order opportunity to pursue alternative nationalist programs.
President of second republic, Jose P Laural remained loyal to Quezon. He
justified his position on the grounds of deterring Japanese abuse of Filipinos and
starbulizing the polity. Laurel also defended the new order as an opportunity to
revive long suppressed anti imperialist sentiments.
Laurel saw the Second Republic as a chance to fight for the principles of
the Katipunan and the Malolos Republic. (minority view)
When war began, colleagues concerned with their own preservation once
US power was restored.
- Manila Dec 26 1941: Manila as an Open City.
o To avert destruction by entering Japanese Forces.
- Defeat of one major battle Bataan Peninsula the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE)
broke into smaller commands and waged guerilla war.
- The only sustained armed resistance against the Japanese came from the Peoples
army of the PKP Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Peoples Anti Japanese Army) or
Hukbalahap
o Carved out liberation zones in several provinces north of Manila harassing Japanese
troops and mobilizing peasant communities to maintain economic activity on agricutural
estates abandoned by landlords
o PKP toned down its radicalism in favor of a broad anti-facist coalition against Japan.
o Many peasant fighters and communist cadres believed that the returning American army
would regard them as allies
o but as the liberation of the PH began in earnest, the American army, USAFFE
guerillas and members of the Filipino elite saw the Hukbalahaps peasant
 organizing as an obstacle to reclamation of landed estates. They would soon join
forced to eliminate this radical wing of the anti-japanese opposition
- US military invaded the country late 1944, Gen MacArthurs forces advanced rapidly
from their landing base in the central PH towards Manila.
o 1 month battle cost lives of thousand americans, 16 thousand Japaneses, 10s
of thousands of Filipinos.
o 80% Manila destroyed, making it second most damaged city in the war after Warsaw
o Osmena returned to the PH to deal with officials who collabed with Japs.
o MacArthur took sides; protected those who were his friends.
o No Major political figure faced jail time.. Joel Steilburg: The elite survived