The Philippine Commonwealth Era The Commonwealth era is the 10 year transitional period in Philippine history from 1935

to 1945 in preparation for independence from the United States as provided for under the Philippine Independence Act or more popularly known as the Tydings-McDuffie Law. The Commonwealth era was interrupted when the Japanese occupied the Philippines in January 2, 1942. The Commonwealth government, lead by Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio S. Osmea went into exile in the U.S., Quezon died of tuberculosis while in exile and Osmea took over as president. At the same time, the Japanese forces installed a puppet government in Manila headed by Jose P. Laurel as president. This government is known as the Second Philippine Republic. On October 20, 1944, the Allied forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed on the island of Leyte to liberate the Philippines from the Japanese. Japan formally surrendered in September 2, 1945. After liberation, the Commonwealth government was restored. Congress convened in its first regular session on July 9, 1945. It was the first time the peoples representatives have assembled since their election on November 11, 1941. Manuel Roxas was elected Senate President, and Elpidio Quirino was chosen President Pro Tempore. Jose Zulueta was speaker of the house, while Prospero Sanidad became speaker pro Tempore. The first law of this congress, enacted as commonwealth act 672, organized the central bank of the Philippines. The commonwealth deal also tackled the issue of collaboration. In September 1945 the counter intelligence corps presented the people who were accused of having collaborated with, or given aid to, the Japanese. Included were prominent Filipinos who had been active in the puppet government that the Japanese had been established. A Peoples Court" was created to investigate and decide on the issue. Amidst this sad state of affairs, the third commonwealth elections were held on April 23, 1946. Sergio Osmea and Manuel Roxas vied for the Presidency. Roxas won thus becoming the last president of the Philippine Commonwealth. The Commonwealth era formally ended when the United States granted independence to the Philippines, as scheduled on July 4, 1946. Important legislations and events during the American period that made the Philippines a commonwealth of the United States: The Philippine Bill of 1902 - Cooper Act United States Congressman Henry Allen Cooper sponsored the Philippine Bill of 1902, also known as the Cooper Act. The bill proposed the creation and administration of a civil government in the Philippines. President Theodore Roosevelt signed it into law in July 2, 1902. Here are some of the more important provisions of the Cooper Act: Ratification of all changes introduced in the Philippine government by the president of the U.S., such as the establishment of the Philippine Commission, theoffice of the civil governor and the Supreme court Extension of the American Bill of Rights to the Filipinos except the right of trial by jury Creation of bicameral legislative body, with the Philippine Commission as the upper house and a still-to-be-elected Philippine Assembly as the Lower House Retention of the executive powers of the civil governor, who was also president of the Philippine Commission Designation of the Philippine Commission as the legislating authority for non-Christian tribes Retention of the Judicial powers of the Supreme court and other lower courts Appointment of two Filipino resident commissioners who would represent the Philippines in the US Congress but would not enjoy voting rights Conservation of Philippine natural resources The bill contained 3 provisions that had to be fulfilled first before the Philippine Assembly could be establishing these were the: Complete restoration of peace and order in the Philippines Accomplishment of a Nationwide census Two years of peace and order after the publication of the census The Philippine Assembly The assembly was inaugurated on October 16, 1907 at the Manila Grand Opera House, with US secretary of War William Howard Taft as guest of honor. Sergio Osmea was elected Speaker while Manuel Quezon was elected Majority Floor leader. The Recognition of the Philippine Assembly paved the way for the establishment of the bicameral Philippine Legislature. The Assembly functioned as the lower House, while the Philippine Commission served as the upper house. Resident Commissioners Benito Legarda and Pablo Ocampo were the first commissioners. Other Filipinos who occupied this position included Manuel Quezon, Jaime de Veyra, Teodoro Yangco, Isaro Gabaldon, and Camilo Osias.

The Jones Law To further train the Filipinos in the art of government, the U.S. Congress enacted the Jones Law on August 29, 1916. It was the first official document that clearly promised the Philippine independence, as stated in its preamble, as soon as a stable government was established. The Jones Law or the Philippine Autonomy act, Replace the Philippine bill of 1902 as the framework of the Philippine government. It provide for the creation of the executive powers. The vice governor general, assisted by his Cabinet, would exercise executive powers. The vice governor would act concurrently as the Secretary of Education. Creation of the Council of State Upon the recommendation of Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmea, Governor General Francis Burton Harrison issued an executive order on October 16, 1981, creating the first Council of State in the Philippines. It was the Councils duty to advise the governor general on matters such as the creation of policies for administering government offices. The Council held meetings once a week and whenever the governor general called for one. It was composed of the governor general, the department secretaries, the speaker of the Lower House, and the Senate president. During Harrisons term, the executive and legislative branches of government worked harmoniously with each other. The Os-Rox Mission One delegation, however, that met with partial success was the Os-Rox Mission, so called because it was headed by Sergio Osmea and Manuel Roxas. The Os-Rox group went to the United States in 1931 and was able to influence the U.S. Congress to pass a pro-independence bill by Representative Butter Hare, Senator Henry Hawes, and Senator Bronso Cutting. The Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law provided for a 10-year transition period before the United States would recognize Philippine independence. U.S. President Herbert Hoover did not sign the bill; but both Houses of Congress ratified it. When the Os-Rox Mission presented the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law to the Philippine Legislature, it was rejected by a the American High Commissioner representing the US president in the country and the Philippine Senate, specifically the provision that gave the U.S. president the right to maintain land and other properties reserved for military use. Manuel Quezon was tasked to head another independence mission to the united States. The Tydings-McDuffie Law In December 1933, Manuel L. Quezon returned to the Philippines from the United States with a slightly amended version of the HareHawes-Cutting bill authored by Senator Milliard Tydings and representative McDuffie. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the new U.S. president, signed it into law on March 24, 1934. The Tydings-McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act of the United States Congress; Public Law 73-127) or more popularly known as the The Tydings-McDuffie Law provided for the establishment of the Commonwealth government for a period of ten years preparatory to the granting of Independence. See the full text of the TydingsMcDuffie Law or Continue to Japanese Occupation, Allied Liberation. http://www.philippine-history.org/philippine-commonwealth.htm American Colony and Philippine Commonwealth 1901 - 1941 President McKinley's Schurmann Commission (1899) recognized the determination of the Filipino people to gain their independence and recommended the establishment of the institutions for a civilian domestic government as soon as practical. Even though on March 16, 1900 the fighting in the War of Independence was still far from over, President McKinley appointed the Second Philippine Commission (Taft Commission) and gave it the legislative and executive authority to put in place the civilian government the Schurmann Commission had recommended. In 499 statutes issued between September 1900 and August 1902, the Taft Commission swept away three centuries of Spanish governance and installed in its place the laws and institutions of a modern civil state. It established a code of law, a judicial system and elective municipal and provincial governments. The Philippine Organic Act of 1902 extended the protections of the United States Bill of Rights to Filipinos and established a national bicameral legislature. The lower house was the popularly elected Philippine Assembly and the upper house was the Philippine Commission appointed directly by the President of the United States. Following American practice, the Philippine Organic Act imposed the strict separation of church and state and eliminated the Roman Catholic Church as the official state religion. In 1904 the administration paid the Vatican US$7.2 million for most of the lands held by the

religious orders. The lands were later sold back to Filipinos. Some tenants were able to buy their land but it was mainly the established estate owners who could afford to buy the former church lands. The first elections to the Philippine Assembly were held in July 1907 and the first session opened on October 16, 1907. The Nacionalista Party of Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmena won the election and continued to dominate Philippine electoral politics until World War II. The political success of the Nacionalista Party was the skill of Quezon and Osmena in tying the traditional patron-client relations (utang na loob) to the new institutions of the modern civil state. It was also their worst mistake. The Nacionalista Party was a network of overlapping patron-client relations that were more concerned with particular local and personal interests and little inclined to address the larger national issues of social reform; land ownership, tenancy rights, population growth and the distribution of wealth. The Party built the power and influence of the old landed elite into the new institutions of democratic governance. And what is the same thing stated differently, the new party politics excluded the non-elites from the rewards and benefits of representative institutions. The failure of democratic politics in the Philippines to represent its non-elites and mitigate their grievances has been the recurrent cause of violent discontent and the desperate resort to revolt and insurrection. The Jones Act of 1916 carried forward the Philippine Organic Act of 1902. An elected Philippine Senate replaced the appointed Philippine Commission and the former Philippine Assembly was renamed the House of Representatives. As before, the Governor-General, responsible for the executive branch, was appointed by the United States President. The Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934 established the Commonwealth of the Philippines which at the end of a ten year transition period would become the fully independent Republic of the Philippines. A plebiscite on the constitution for the new Republic was approved in 1935 and the date for national independence was set for July 4, 1946. http://www.ualberta.ca/~vmitchel/fw5.html

CHANGES IN PHILIPPINE CULTURE DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD Government-Democracy was the greatest legacy the Americans gave us. The government has three branches: executive (president), legislative (senate and congress) and the judiciary (department of justice). Education Schools were built all over the country and making English as a medium of instructions. The first teachers were called Thomasites because they came onboard the SS Thomas. The University of the Philippines, Philippine Normal College and other agricultural schools were established. Religion o Protestantism was introduced. o In 1918, more or less than 300,00Filipinos became protestant. o The church and the state (government) were separated. Freedom of religion was practiced. Transportation and Communication wasi mproved. o Americans built roads, streets and bridges for efficient movement of products and services. o Examples: Burnham Park, Kennon Road, Camp JohnHay etc. Entertainment- Music and dance o Hollywood movies became popular in the country. New kinds of music and dance were introduced like rock n roll, boogie, jazz, tango, chacha, polka, and rhumba. o Filipinos learned to watch and play games like table tennis, basketball, volleyball, boxing, and football. Health and Sanitation o The Filipinos learned the value of cleanliness and healthy practices. o They were taught proper hygiene to make them healthy and be free from contagious diseases. o Hospitals, clinics, and health centers were built. Public hospitals for leper victims were also established. Mode of Dressing was changed. o The women learned to wear dresses, high-heeled shoes and hand bags. While the men wore suits, polo shirts, ties and jeans. Food like ice cream, cakes, beef steak, hotdog, hamburgers, sandwiches, cookies, and donuts were introduced. American architecture are still present today. Up, PNU, Manila Hotel and PGH are some examples. Boulevards, zone districts, streets, centers of leisure were also built. Livelihood o The Philippine economy was also improved due to increase agricultural production and development of new industries The Filiino attitude was gradually changed. We learned to be frank, humorous, belief in rights and freedom, and love for sports. o Pagmamano was replaced by kissing thecheeks of parents and elders as a sign of respect.

The English language was widely taught all over the country. Soon, taught all over the country. Soon, some English words became part of some english words became part of our vocabulary. Filipinos adopted our vocabulary. Filipinos adopted American names like Charlie, Anna, American names like Charlie, Anna, Francis, and Cherry. Francis, and Cherry. NEGATIVE IMPACT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION o Americanization of the Filipinos- buying of imported products instead of local ones. o Colonial mentality- Filipinos lost self-confidence and believed that Filipinos could not compete with the products of other countries. As a result, Filipino culture was neglected. o Filipino values like pagmamano was replaced by saying hi or hello. o Filipino food like bibingka and suman were replaced by American food like hotdog and French fries. http://www.scribd.com/doc/27594134/The-Philippines-During-the-American-Period http://www.katig.com/history_09.html