Postwar Problems and the Republic
First
The damage done by the war to the
Philippines and the Filipino was
incalculable. The basic problem their
fare, that confronted the commonwealth
and, later, the republic was economic.
Buildings, school, houses, roads, and
bridges, livestock, sugar mills and
agriculture. The united states gave
material and financial aid to the
Philippines on condition that the
Philippine Constitution should be
amended in order to give the Americans
party rights in the exploitation of the
countrys natural resources. Amidst
economic, social, and political confusion,
the Philippine was born to shoulder the
responsibilities attendant to an
independent existences.
Postwar Economic Condition
The ravage of war had left their
imprint on the economy of the country.
The incomes of the people dipped
radically and means of livelihood were
reduced tremendously. Poverty, resulting
from widespread destruction of property,
including work animals, was rampant
throughout the country. It was estimated
that the damage different industries
amounted to about P582,500,000., while
domestic asset sustained a reduction of
about P798,767,595. Various industries
suffered great losses:
*P140,291,000-Rice
*P121,210,000-Mining
*P94,590,000-Sugar
*P81,203,000-Livestock
The losses of their industries, such as
lumber, abaca, coconut, and fishing,
were inconsiderable compared with
others.
The Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU)
The American army promptly
create the Philippine Civil Affairs Unit
(PCAU). The agency provided speedily
relief for all the people of manila and
provinces which had been recently
liberated from Japanese rule.
organized in the new Guinea on
September 28, 1994, the PCAU took part
in Leyte campaigns. Its purpose to assist
the various military commanders in the
civil administration and relief in the areas
liberated. Thus, clothed with this
authority, the PCAU paid the salaries of
the municipal officials and teachers in
areas already in the hands of the
Americans.
PCAU organized food distributing centers
in Manila and the provinces.
*Rice
*Cracked corns
*Sardines
*Salmon
*American canned goods
were distributed free to other people.
PCAU also provided employment to
laborers who went each paid P1.00 daily
with food and P1.20 without food.
In the views of hoarding and the
consequent rise in the prices of goods.
President Osmea issued an Executive
order setting maximum prices for goods
sold in liberated areas. Thus, elon-elon
was pegged at P0.32 per ganta; wheat
flour, P0.15 per kilo; vegetable lard,
P0.35 per kilo; refined sugar brown P0.14
per kilo; dried fish, first class, P0.80 per
kilo; second class P0.60; third class
P0.40; fourth class P0.20; two tomatoes,
0.01, and so on, including prices for gabi,
banana, petroleum, shirt drawers,
undershirt, towel, handkerchief, haircut
and etc. The executive order however,
was only good in paper, for the prices of
commodities in the market very much
higher. For example, which the
government pegged at P0.30 each were
sold at P0.70 in all public markets;
bananas whose price was set at P0.10 to
P0.25 each.
Re-organization of Government
 As the raging fires of Manila and
provinces subsided in the wake of the
Japanese defeat in the field, president
Osmea reorganized the government to
make it responsive to the imperative
needs of the nation. On March 7, 1945,
he signed an Executive order providing
for the restoration of the executive
departments of the government as they
existed before the war. The order was,
however, dated February 27. An new
feature of the re-organization was the
creation of the department of information
as part of the Department of Public
Instruction. On March 8, Osmea swore in
the new member of the cabinet. In a
speech following the oath-taking, osmea
outlined the principles his government
would follow. He said:
We hereby affirm our faith in, and
adherence to, the principles of freedom
and democracy...
We shall re-establish in our country
a social and political system in which
government officials and employees are
not the masters of the people but their
servants
We stand for the individual
liberties, guaranteed by our constitution,
for the right of every man and woman to
enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
We reject the theory of the
existence of chosen or superior races
We reaffirm our faith in the
principle of the Philippine-American
collaboration...
We reiterate our adherence to the
Atlantic charter signed by the United
Nations of which we are a member
***
We stand for a new world free from
want and fear, provided with great
safeguards for lasting peaceWe are
ready to take part in close association
with the United States, in the
organization abd preservation of the
peace of the world.
The Congress Convened
Most of the important affairs of the
government should have been handled
by the Filipino officials, but MacArthur, a
man of actions and of a military temper,
actually made the important decisions for
President Osmena. The latter,
unassuming and cool under fire, did not
want to convoke Congress on the ground
that It might fall into the hands of
collaborators, whom the American
government suspected for treason.
Macarthur, however, believed that
osmena was too slow and wanted
Congress immediately convoked, for the
policy of the American Government was
to restore constitutional government in
the Philippines as soon as law and order
had been established. One June 9,
Osmena called a special session of
Congress. Manuel A. Roxas, whose
ambition was to be President of the
Philippines, immediately spoke for the so-
called collaborationist by declaring that
all men who were employed during the
Japanese occupation were actually loyal
to the Commonwealth Government. It
was roxass way of winning to his side
the powerful members of the
Nacionalista Party who worked, willingly
or unwillingly, for the Macarthur, it
seemed obvious was behind Roxass
drive for the Presidency, for he
considered Roxas the man of the hour,