PH On the Way to Independence

• PH was already preparing for its

Independence from the US
• Many positive results of the US Occupation:
democratic partnerships, universal
education, public health and welfare,
impetus for commerce, industry, and trade,
basic individual freedoms, improved
communication and transportation,
developed political conciousness
Before the War: PH-JP Relations
• There was a reasonable presence of Japanese
and Japanese goods even before the Occupation
• - The first successful Japanese bazaar in the
Philippines was the Nippon Bazaar.
• - Notable customers at the bazaar included
Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmena, and Emilio
Aguinaldo.
• - The bazaar sold porcelain, shirts, socks,
neckties, slippers, fans, umbrellas, Japanese
lanterns, bags, luggage, pens, novelty items, and
others.
 Japanese Products
• - There were also many Japanese branded products being
sold in the Philippines such as:
• - Pesticides like Imazu Fly Powder, Liquid Katol, and Katol
coils
• - Vanity products such as Kanebo silk stockings, Kurokami
black hair dye
• - Oneida tableware
• - Kirin Beer and Asahi Beer
• - Other Japanese products were not branded with Japanese
names and instead sounded American:
• - Protector toothbrush
• - Club beauty products
• - Lion toothpaste
• - Pilot pens
 1930’s
• - Many Filipino bottled products used Japanese-made
bottles because the Philippines did not then produce
bottles
• - Up to the mid 1930’s, most Japanese trading companies
used Chinese retailers to sell their mass-oriented products
• - From the mid 1930’s, Japanese businessmen went into the
retail business after the Chinese retailers boycotted
Japanese products
• - There were also Japanese-owned specialized shops in the
country selling bicycles, pharmacy, medical and dentistry
supply, glass sheets, carpentry tools, watch and watch
repair, made-to-order clothing, confectionery, etc.
The Japanese Occupation

Economic State of the Philippines

• - Before the war, the Philippine economy
depended heavily on free trade privileges
with the US.
• - Despite the relative prosperity, it was an
unbalanced foundation for an economy.
• - The Philippines was almost entirely
dependent on sugar as its main source of
revenue, so much so that it stunted the
growth of other agricultural crops, even
rice.
• - In 1935, the country face a severe rice
crisis due to a crop shortfall and cornering
of the market by shrewd merchants.
• - The commonwealth government
established the National Rice and Corn
Corporation or Naric as a way to nationalize
the rice industry and stabilize prices.
• - Quezon also sought to increase food
production by building more irrigation
systems and promoting more modern and
scientific planting methods.
• - He also planned a series of social
justice programs to redistribute land to
the farmers.
• - Quezon also created the Emergency
Control Board in 1939 and the Civilian
Emergency Administration in 1941 to
prepare the country for war conditions.
• - Progress, though, was slow because the
threat or war was not taken seriously.
• - With the outbreak of the war, the
economy was thus easily disrupted:
transportation was commandeered by
the USAFFE, crops could not be
harvested because of evacuation, and the
import and export between the US and
the Philippines was broken.
 Japanese Resetting of
National Priorities
• - As they occupied the Philippines, the
immediate task of the Japanese was to
restore order and stability in order to
implement their economic goals:
development and procurement of war
materials and strategic resources, and
the establishment of a system of self-
sufficiency for Japanese occupation
troops.
• - Otherwise, basic commodities and food
were only provided for the Filipinos to
maintain stability.
• - Long term, the Japanese also wanted to
incorporate the Philippines into the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
 Japanese Economic Control
• - To keep inflation under control, production
of commodities was increased to prevent
shortages, bank withdrawals were limited to
500 pesos a month, and a forced savings
system was implemented where wage
earners were required to save 10% of their
earnings in bank deposits.
• - There was also a general salary reduction
for government employees, but it would be
offset by rationing and price control
lowering the cost of living.
• - Although a Philippine Executive
Commission was organized, the Japanese
Military Administration directly governed
all matters concerning development and
procurement of war materials, the self-
sufficiency of Japanese forces,
transportation, and communication.
• - They were also in direct control of major
economic policies, leaving only minor
matters of the Filipinos.
 Monopolies
• - With the goal of creating a completely controlled
economy in the Philippines, the Japanese also
established monopolies, based on the controlled
economy in Japan.
• - This would be done by establishing various groups
such as the Prime Commodities Distribution Control
Association, Federation of Filipino Retailers
Association, Japanese Bazaars Association, Chinese
Retailers Association, and the Philippine Copra
Purchasing Union along with similar groups for
traders, manufacturers, and dealers of other
products, and also associations for farmers,
fishermen, bakers, cattle and hog buyers, horse
owners.
• - Membership was mandatory and the
majority of top officials were Japanese.
• - This allowed all major professions, and
thus the entire economy, to be easily
controlled.
• - In theory, this allowed a more direct route
between producers and consumers, which
would cut costs, and would allow greater
cooperation rather than wasteful
competition, maximizing all resources.
• - In cases where existing special companies and
organizations covered strategic interests such as
railroads, electricity, telephone, telegraph, and
fuel , the Japanese simply took them over under
their direct control.
• - This was also the case with the banks: all of
them would be supervised or controlled by the
government in support of if its goal of controlled
economy.
• - With this centralization, the Japanese could
begin to control prices and ration supply.
 Rice Crisis
• - Immediately after occupation, in conjunction
with Naric, the Japanese were able to reopen
rice stores in Manila to sell at a fixed amount and
a fixed price.
• -This was the beginning of rationing and price
control which would characterize the rest of
Japanese economic policy.
• - After some initial difficulty with lack of rice
stores, rice sales stabilized.
• - However, rice stocks soon ran out and the war
interrupted the harvest and transportation,
causing the shortage of rice.
• - Also, the Japanese were given priority, as would be
in all other aspects of the economy, leaving even less
for the Filipinos.
• - Shortages like this would spread to other
commodities as the Japanese took over the
Philippine economy.
• - In order to counteract the shortage, the Japanese
introduced a fast-maturing strain of rice from Taiwan
called horai rice which could theoretically double or
triple rice production in the Philippines.
• - After initial success in experimental farms, certain
regions were ordered to cultivate only horai.
• - The Japanese controlled media proclaimed that the
Philippines could become self-sufficient in a years
time.
• - Despite this, the Japanese did import rice to the
Philippines from Saigon and continued importing
until the end of the occupation.
• - To centralize control of rice procurement and
distribution, ensuring that the Japanese military got
its share, Naric was placed under direct Japanese
army management and all transactions involving rice
including milling, buying, selling, transportation,
storage, and distribution were placed under Naric.
• - Naric still encountered many difficulties in
supplying rice such as the lack of peace and order in
rice producing provinces and general lack of
transportation.
• - Nonetheless the Japanese Military Administration
sought to increase productivity by introducing new
fertilizers from Japan and improving irrigation
systems.
• - As was the case with many other sectors of the
economy, the Japanese organized the Food Control
Association in 1942 and the Federation of Rice
Growers Associations in 1943 to monopolize and
control production.
 PRIMCO
• - The Philippine Prime Commodities Distribution
Control Association or Primco was established
by the Japanese to control the supply and
distribution of prime commodities, except food.
• - It inventories stocks in private warehouses and
shops throughout the country, and forcibly took
goods from companies as Japanese-mandated
prices, which were always low.
• - Private companies, in turn, were struck hard
and lost their stocks and assets.
• - When inflation set in, Primco insisted on buying
cheap and selling cheap.
• - Primco also supplied the Japanese military and
various development companies along with the
public.
• - To control consumption, rationing was
implemented for laundry soap, matches, cooking
oil, cotton, textiles, and clothing at fixed prices.
• - Ideally, the goods would be rationed enough to
sustain the population, however, actual
implementation was very different.
• - Priority was given to the self-sustenance of the
Japanese forces and so they had first rights on these
commodities , and only leftovers could be
distributed to Filipinos.
• - Overall, mismanagement and forced buying at
unreasonably low prices thus caused a severe
shortage.
• - The Japanese did foresee the shortage which is why
they implemented the rationing and fixed prices, but
these were stopgap measures, and the Japanese
realized that the Philippines needed to be able to
produce for itself as well as for the Japanese.
 Mickey Mouse Money
• - In order to control the entire financial
system of the countries Japan occupies, they
issued 軍票 gumpyo, also known as
military war notes, pass money, or scrip.
• - The peso military notes for the Philippines
were called the Ho type and came in seven
denominations: 10, 5, and 1 peso bills, and
50, 10, 5, and 1 centavo bills.
• - The Japanese invasion forces brought the
first military notes with them which were
immediately to be used as legal tender.
• - The military notes were to be used in all
transactions, and severe punishment was
threatened for anyone who interfered with their
circulation while all other currencies except the
pre-war peso were banned.
• - Filipinos were immediately suspicious despite
assurance that the money was backed by the
Japanese government because there was no
indication, such as serial numbers, that the
money was backed by any value and because
the Japanese had to actually threaten Filipinos to
use the bills which would be unnecessary if the
notes had real value.
• - Because the notes did not look real and quickly lost
its value to inflation from 1943 onward, Filipinos
derisively them Mickey Mouse money: not real, a
figment of the imagination.
• - With inflation setting in and the highest
denomination being 10 pesos, more and more bills
were required to buy commodities; salaries would
be paid in bundles of bills, and bags of bills had to
be carried to market.
• - With dwindling supply in the economy due to the
faulty economic controls, prices rose and the value
of Mickey Mouse money continued to drop.
• - The Japanese tried to control inflation by
strictly controlling the amounts of war notes
issued, but as prices shot up, Japanese
companies and the military printed more bills to
buy at those prices, making the inflation worse.
• - In 1944, to try and catch up to inflation, 100,
then 500, and eventually 1000 peso bills were
introduced.
• - Mickey Mouse money continued to lose value
and Filipinos had to resort to barter and many
retailers refused to accept the military notes.
 Making the Philippines
Self-Sufficient
• - In order to reorganize the Philippine economy to
produce enough for both the Filipinos and the
Japanese, the unbalanced economy that the
Americans left behind had to be replaced.
• - The Japanese planned to cut sugar output since
other areas in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere already produced enough sugar for Japan.
• - The plan was to have excess sugar plantation lands
be converted to cotton plantations so as to produce
enough for both the Philippines and Japan. (cotton
was important not only for clothing but also in the
manufacture of explosives)
• - Both Japan and the Philippines were cotton
importing countries before the war, so it was
urgent to be able to produce the resource.
• - Japan quickly sent a group of specialists to
oversee the plan in 1942, and once the plan was
made public, the planting of cotton began.
• - The sugar lands in Negros and Central Luzon
were divided among Japanese civilian cotton
companies while Filipino landowners and
farmers were ordered to cultivate cotton under
contract with the Japanese companies.
• - As with other aspects of the economy, a
Philippine Cotton-Growing Association was
organized.
• - The plan, as a whole, was reasonable:
Filipinos would plant cotton in excess lands
under expert Japanese supervision. In
between harvest and planting, secondary
food crops would be planted to keep the
land useful throughout the year
• - Optimistic target numbers were calculated
and were set to be increased annually.
• - The predictions, however were not met,
and many difficulties were encountered:
the Japanese specialists arrived late,
delaying planting; various pests and
diseases attacked the seedlings; too
much rain fell, after which a drought set
in, not to mention that the cotton is not
acclimatized to Philippine conditions.
• - The cotton plants were also delicate,
and so Filipino farmers were not used to
handling the crops; many disliked the
hard work and deliberately did as little
as they could.
• - Landlords were also hesitant and did
not always cooperate.
• - Guerilla resistance also sabotaged
cotton plantations, especially in Negros.
• - It was also used for making containers
such as barrels and various resins, gums,
and oils can be extracted from wood.
• - As much as possible, these products would
be exported to Japan.
• - As with cotton, the Philippine Lumber
Control Union was organized to divide the
Philippines into areas and given to member
companies, all Japanese, to exploit.
• - Another strategic resource for the Japanese
was the mines.
• - Gold mines were developed by the Americans
before the war, but the Japanese did not need
gold for the war effort, so the gold mines were
temporarily shut down and the equipment was
sent to copper, chromium, and manganese mines
which the Japanese focused on.
• - As with the cotton and lumber production plan,
Japanese mining companies were allotted
specific mines to exploit.
• - As with Primco, Filipino operators were
under the mercy of Japanese-organized
monopolies, such as the lumber union,
and were forced to sell their materials at
union prices, creating shortages.
• -Thus, Japanese companies competed
with each other for limited resources and
prices rose; racketeering, smuggling,
confiscation, and corruption followed.
• -It was the same pattern with other industries or
resources such as fuel, transportation,
communication, and electricity; they were
developed but always prioritized for the
Japanese and maintenance and spare parts were
always inadequate.
• - Overall, the guerillas, people’s apathy,
difficulties in work and transport, shortage of
food, and the unreasonable prices set by the
Japanese led to low output of lumber, cotton,
minerals, and virtually all other aspects of the
Japanese-controlled economy.
 Food Supply
• - The Rice ration system in Manila proved
stable enough from late 1942 through
1943.
• - The price of meat, however, rose
drastically and cows and carabaos were
slaughtered in alarming numbers.
• - It seemed that farms would be left without work
animals so the administration had to restrict the
number of animals slaughtered and later
ordered that only animals that certified to no
longer be useful in the fields could be
slaughtered.
• - Prices of other foods also rose despite price
ceilings set and despite efforts by the Bureau of
Commerce and Industry, and the Philippine
Constabulary’s Economic Police Division to
ensure the ceilings were followed and to arrest
profiteers and hoarders.
 Use of Filipino Labor
• - Filipino labor was not only used to exploit
resources.
• - The Japanese also used Filipinos to build
airfields and other military projects.
• - The Executive Commission made the
Bureau of Employment to ease
unemployment and to systematize the use,
mostly Japanese use, of labor throughout
the country.
• - To cut costs, the Japanese Military
Administration slashed the daily wage
from the pre-war P1.00 to P0.80.
• - Many Japanese companies and military
forces paid even less, and as a result,
many Filipinos avoided working for the
Japanese.
 Japanese Mismanagement
• - Although the Japanese plans looked
reasonable and logical on paper, they led to
various complications.
• - Rather than cooperation, there was rivalry
between the Japanese army, navy, and the
civilian development companies for limited
resources.
• - When procuring resources and goods,
they paid ridiculously low prices, making
the shortage worse, and raising the prices
uncontrollably, leading to inflation.
• - On other occasions, encouragement and high
buying prices by the Japanese led to unexpected
results:
• - Both the Japanese army and navy offered large
sums of money for scrap metal, electrical wires, and
other strategic materials.
• - This made a flourishing trade in such materials, but
also an increase in the looting of such materials such
as stealing wires from street lights (which the
Japanese administration never replaced) and even
stealing from Japanese supply depots to sell the
stolen goods back to the Japanese.
• - Other Japanese measures thus often
went badly as well:
• - Lack of interest and cooperation by
Filipino and poor management by the
Japanese consistently led to low
production;
• - Cutbacks in government led to greater
unemployment, and the cut in salaries
led to lower income meaning the people
could not or refused to pay taxes, thus
leading to lower government revenue;
• - Mickey Mouse money was not
considered real currency and the
Japanese kept printing and circulating
more leading to even more inflation.
 Black Market
• - Because of the increasing number of
Japanese troops, demand for commodities
rose and a shortage in almost all
commodities was only a matter of time.
• - As a result, the black market thrived
despite all attempts to control it.
• - Fake licenses, permits, ration tickets, and
even fake Mickey Mouse money abounded.
• - Fake price control inspectors and
constables also emerged, while many
genuine officers became corrupt.
• - Vendors would cheat consumers by
tampering with scales and disregarded the
price controls.
• - Rent control orders were also disregarded
by both Japanese and Filipinos, with
landlords charging their own rents and
threatening to kick tenants out.
• - Control measures by the Japanese only worked on
paper; anomalies, corruption, and cheating took
place right within the Japanese control associations
and while those caught were expelled, they only
joined the black market as a result.
• - While anti-profiteering campaigns seemed to work
early on, as soon as they were stopped, profiteering
and hoarding returned; those previously punished
for hoarding and profiteering simply returned to
their activities after release.
• - The Japanese, in turn, were afraid that too much
harshness would only force more people
underground.
• Laurel’s measure
• Food Crisis
• Reorganizing the Control Organizations
• Forced Labor
 Same Problems
• - Because the Japanese continued to control
much of the economy, simply taking what it
needed, demand outstripped supply and
people were left without basic commodities
for survival.
• - Profiteering was never stopped, the black
market continued to thrive, and cheating
and corruption were blatant.
• - Inflation began to rise in 1943 and became
impossible in 1944:
• - A shirt that cost P0.80 prewar cost
P6.00-9.00 in 1943.
• - Laundry soap cost P0.03-0.04 prewar
rose to P3.00.
• - An old pair of denim pants used to sell
at P1.50, now sold for P50.00.
• - One kilo of sugar shot up to P70.00 from
a prewar price of P0.30.
 An Economy of Subtitutes
• - With the shortage of almost all basic
necessities, substitutes had to be
devised.
• - People were urged to use camote and
cassava as rice substitutes.
• - Buses ran on charcoal.
• - Rice or corm substituted for coffee.
• - Boiled avocado or mango leaves were
used for tea.
• - Banana peels were used for shoe
polish.
• - Banana Catsup was discovered as a substitute
for the imported tomato original.
• - Since cars were reserved for the powerful,
many resorted to bicycles or simply walked.
• - The dokar (a horse drawn vehicle with
automobile wheels and upholstered seats),
calesas and carretelas became common on the
road.
• - Small sailboats or batels also became popular
for interisland transportation since there were no
regular liners.
• - People also resorted to cost-cutting
measures:
• - Some men cut their long pants to make
them short to save laundry soap
• - Matches were split in two to double
supply
• - The tingi system was used
 The Dark Side of the Economy
• - There was also a prospering trade in fake
merchandise such as fake branded
cigarettes and even fake medicines along
with the forged documents and fake money
prevalent in the black market.
• - Many people resorted to barter because
Mickey Mouse money rapidly lost value,
and wound up bartering prized prewar
collections and other possessions for basic
necessities.
• - Ironically, this allowed the peasantry,
who produced food and necessities, to
own luxury goods.
• - Many others, however, resorted to
looting and grave robbing became
rampant.
• - “Buy-and-sell” was a trade involving
middlemen selling second hand or
looted goods to prospective buyers.
• - War widows also resorted to selling their
children to those who could take better care
of them.
• - A guerilla report from 1944 stated that it
was easier to buy a child than a pig in
Manila.
• - Shortages were not as bad in the
provinces, but Japanese or guerilla raids
destabilized conditions and many people
flowed into the cities for safety.
• - This served to worsen the shortages
and further increase unemployment.
• - Opportunists, though, were able to
make money out of the situation such as
directly supplying the Japanese, making
big money out of the transactions, or by
hoarding commodities.
The Japanese Occupation

Socio-Cultural Realities in the

Philippines
 Japan Courts the Filipino Soul
• There were several problems that the
Japanese faced
• First, they thought that prolonged
exposure to Western civilization had
alienated the Philippines from the true
Asian Spirit.
• Second, Filipinos fought alongside US
forces against Japan.
 The West as a Global Demon
• They portrayed US as the enemy, and
boasted about their victories.
• They controlled media and information.
The Culture Police Go To Work
• Sendenbu or the Propaganda Group/Corps were
assigned to outline the principles of education
• 1. explain the place of PH in the Co-Prosperity
Sphere
• 2. cut dependence on the West
• 3. raise people’s morals, deemphasizing materialism
• 4. spread the use of Japanese and end the use of
English
• 5. give importance to basic education and promote
vocational education
• 6. inspire people with love of labor
Kempeitai
 Education
• Schools were closed.
• Curricula and syllabi were reviewed. All
textbooks were censored.
• Anything perceived as the following were
censored: anti-Japanese, antiwar, pro-
American or British, supportive of American
or British fundamental principles of
education, exposing improper conduct of
the Japanese
• Offending pages were torn-out or covered
with strips of paper
 Education
• Social sciences and literature were given
less emphasis
• Vocational education and service to the
country were highlighted
• Later, schools reopened after being
screened. Public elementary schools first
then public high schools, private schools
then vocational schools.
 Crash Course in the New Order
• Colleges and higher institutions of learning
were opened later but only selectively.
• UP re-opened relatively late
• Only technical schools were allowed to
resume classes – medicine, engineering,
agriculture.
• Some schools never opened because their
buildings and campuses were taken over by
the military.
• Schools were expected to teach their
students about the New Order.
 Crash Course in the New Order
• Teaching Niponggo was made compulsory.
• Some courses were taught in Niponggo so that
Filipinos would be prepared to teach the
language later on.
• Some teachers were sent from Japan just for
teaching.
• Japanese sent pensionados to Japan to study at
Japanese schools and learn about Japanese life
first hand.
• USSAFE veterans were made to undergo
“rejuvenation” courses to clean them of their
anti-Japanese ideas.
 Publications
• After textbooks were examined, all books in
bookstores were checked for dangerous or offensive
ideas.
• All publications had to be censored or approved
including newspapers, magazines, books and
pamphlets.
• Movies, stage shows, radio programs, even letters
sent through the post office were censored.
• Most radio stations were closed. Only the KZRH (now
DZRH) was allowed to open along with a few local
ones.
• The pre-war Roces TVT (Tribune-La Vanguardia-
Taliba) newspaper chain was reopened in Manila.
• The pre-war Tagalog weekly, Liwayway, was also allowed to
reopen.
• Instead of allowing pre-war, American-oriented periodicals,
the Japanese started their own magazines including Shin
Seiki (New Era).
• Philippine Review was meant to be an intellectual monthly
while Pillars was aimed at the youth.
• The controlled media reported strings of Japanese victories,
increasing collaboration of Filipinos with Japan, a rosy,
peaceful life under the Japanese.
• Postage stamps were also made instruments of propaganda.
Stamps printed in Japan were issued which featured
Philippine scenes highlighting Japan’s power and declaring
close Japanese-Philippine ties.
 Keeping time to
Japanese Clocks
• The Japanese held contests for poems, short
stories, novels, slogans and musical
compositions.
• Winners were given much publicity and the
winning pieces were publicly published or
presented.
• Philippine clocks were set to Japan time (one
hour ahead)
• Japanese holidays became Philippine holidays.
• Japanese was declared an official language
along with Tagalog.
• Japanese language became a mandatory subject in schools.
• Roads, bridges and places were given Japanese names.
• Japanese national anthem was played in all programs and
participants and audiences had to bow towards Tokyo and
observe one minute of silent prayer for Tokyo’s victory and
the Japanese war dead.
• Philippine national anthem and flags were banned.
• Radio Taiso was introduced to instill both discipline and
physical fitness.
• Schoolchildren and government officials assembled in front
of their buildings at a designated time in the morning to
perform physical exercises as directed by a radio
announcer – was meant for Filipinos to obey orders from an
unseen authority.
 Religion
• Religion section composed of Japanese Christian
priests, ministers and nuns.
• Japanese tried to convince the Catholic Church
in the Philippines to cooperate with the Greater
East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
• Urged priests to preach Japan’s aims in the war.
• Also reached out to Protestants but they had
problems since they were founded by
Americans
• Japanese did not make much attempt to reach
out to the Muslims through their religion
 Laurel republic takes up reform
• Curriculum changes and more suitable
educational program for the country
• Emphasis on national language and history
• Board went back to the semestral system,
with vacations long enough for children to
rest and timed during rainy season to
minimize disruption of classes.
• Only Filipinos could teach Filipino history.
• Qualifying exams for teachers
 Promoting a new nationalistic
image
• Laurel government tried to spread more Filipino
propaganda line using all forms of media.
• Set up new periodicals such as Filipina, a
monthly women’s magazine and The Republic, a
new newspaper.
• Manila Shimbun-sha to Philippine Publications
• KZRH to PIAM
• Tatlong Maria was completed and released on
1944 which focused on the importance of
traditional values, hard work, and rural life as
opposed to the greed, corruption and
superficiality of the city
 The Filipino flag
returns to public life
• New stamps were printed for the republic
showing nationalist orientation.
• Philippine flag was highlighted in publications,
leaflets and posters.
• Philippine national anthem was translated into
Tagalog and became Diwa ng Bayan replacing
the Japanese national anthem entitled Awit sa
Paglikha ng Bagong Pilipinas
• Cigarette boxes were also used for the republic’s
propaganda line named Independencia
cigarettes made from Virginia tobaccos which
were grown in the Philippines.
Restrictions continue under Laurel
• Laurel felt that public information also required
some degree of control.
• Board of Information was created which
prevented inaccurate and careless reportage not
in keeping with the republic’s ideals.
• Kabataang Pangarap ni Rizal and Revtrufilnism
(exact meaning is not known but most probably
stands for Revive True Filipinism) were formed
aimed at developing a greater nationalist
consciousness.
Restrictions continue under Laurel
• Despite Laurel’s attempts to make independence
real and to develop a Filipino cultural policy,
many elements of the Japanese policy were still
in place including the stress on vocational
education, mandatory Niponggo classes and the
Radio Taiso.
• Change from Manila Shimbun-sha to Philippine
Publications and KZRH to PIAM was only
cosmetic since news content and censorship did
not change.
Restrictions on listening to foreign shortwave
radio stations except Radio Tokyo remained
 Actions louder than propaganda
• Contradictions between propaganda and
actual conditions were too visible.
• Seizing of private property and the
swaggering Japanese behaviour, in
which daily they acted as if they were
superior to Filipinos, were more
convincing.
 Actions louder than propaganda
• Humiliation of
bowing before
sentries and getting
slapped if done
improperly bit more
deeply into Filipino
psyche than any
propaganda.
• These acts belied
the friendly,
brotherly image
portrayed in
propaganda
magazines and
leaflets.
 Tagalog’s newfound prominence
• More space for Tagalog writing since the
magazine Liwayway was allowed to continue
regular printing.
• Use of Tagalog was a double-edged sword. On
one hand, Filipinos, by using Tagalog, could
claim that they were following Japanese orders
and, by doing so, were also nationalistic. On the
other hand, since very few Japanese knew
Tagalog well enough to read and write it, using
the language served to conceal double
meanings from the Japanese.
 Golden Age of Stage
• Because of the lack of new movies, stage
shows and presentations enjoyed a
golden age.
• Foreign classics were translated to
Filipino and were performed.
• Tandang Sora, Bayan Ko, Sa Sariling Lupa,
Bukang Liwayway
 Wartime Wit and Humor
• Pugo and Tugo – comedians who
satirized the Japanese with jokes
• The Japanese made them change their
name: Tuging and Puging
• Some went to through the motions but
made modifications to make the action
against the Japanese.
• Bowing toward Tokyo and the Imperial
Palace while praying for the Japanese
war dead, Filipinos bow but pray for the
death of the Japanese instead.
• Double meaning in literature and press
• Jokes against the Japanese were
prevalent
• Instead of saying “Ohayou!” Filipinos
would say “O Hayop!” Instead of saying
“Banzai!” they would say “Bangkay!”
• Reversal of pro Japanese slogans
• Hidden messages and secret warnings
were inserted into plays. Example, the
song “Bakit Hindi Ka Pa Dumarating?”
referring to McArthur’s return.
 Songs
• New anthem: Awit
sa Paglikha ng
Bagong Pilipinas
• Made by the
Kalibapi
 Conclusion: Why bother?
• Being resourceful during hard times
• Being resilient
• Giving emphasis to the importance of
cooperation and unity
• Stressing the importance of National
Consciousness and love and care for
other people’s being
• Demonstrating the sense of Nationalism
to one’s country