commonwealth and japanese period

The Commonwealth Period

• The Fairfield Bill– A compromise measure which provided for a long

transition period and many reservations of power for the United States

– General McIntyre claimed to be the main creator of this bill

– Its main supporters are the American businessmen who have their investments in the country

Philippine History with Philippine Constitution Week 8


• Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bill– The US passed this bill as a means of granting

Philippine independence– A product of the OSROX mission (Osmena-Roxas)– On October 17, 1933 the legislature, through the

concurrent resolution rejected the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bill



• Tydings-Mc Duffie Act– This was the same as Hare-Hawes Cutting Bill– This time it was Quezon and Quirino who went to

US to clamor for Philippine independence– Approved on May 1, 1934


The 1935 Constitution

• Critics of the 1934 Constitutional Convention particularly Jose P. Laurel claimed that the 1935 constitution is invalid for we don’t need any other country’s approval for our own constitution

• The 1935 constitution was approved by then President of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt


Commonwealth Act 1

• The National Defense Act• Requiring all 21 year old able-bodied male

citizens to render 5 and ½ months of military service through regular military force or through reserve force


Sakdalista Uprising

• In May 1935 approximately 65000 Filipino peasants headed by Benigno Ramos surrounded Manila to dramatize their demands for genuine agrarian reform, abolition of unfair taxes, government policy against land grabbing and total independence from Americans



• Manuel L. Quezon – the Father of Social Justice• Rafael Palma – appointed as chairman of National

Council of Education in 1936• Sergio Osmena – head of the Department of

Education, the first time a Filipino assumed this position

Commonwealth Act No. 570 • Declaring Tagalog as the basis of National Language


*The Philippines Under the Japanese Puppet Government*

• Corregidor – the tadpole shaped defensive fort of three square

miles of island at the mouth of Manila Bay– had three supporting islands• Caballo• Carabao• El Fraile


War in the Pacific• July 26, 1941 – USAFFE (United States Army Forces in the Far East) was

founded• December 8, 1941 – the following news were received in Corregidor

– Japanese carrier forces strikes Pearl Harbor– Thailand surrendered to Japanese troops– The Battle of the Philippines begins: Japanese bombers blast Clark Field, 60

miles north of Manila• December 9, 1941

– Malaya invaded and Guam captured– Japanese make initial landings in the Philippines, striking the beaches of

Vigan, Ilocos Sur and Apari on the North• December 22, 1941

– The Japanese advancing forces made their major landings at Lingayen, Pangasinan



Military Order No. 2• February 17, 1942• Promoting the Filipino culture, spiritual

enrichment among the Filipino families, propagation of Japanese Language – Nipponggo and the Implementation of Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere

• Public school were reopened June 1942



Mariveles Masacre• April 9, 1942 – General Edward P. King,

Commander of Allied Forces in Bataan composed of 78000 soldiers, surrendered

• April 10, 1942 – The Death March – the soldiers walked from Mariveles Bataan to San Fernando Pampanga

• May 6, 1942 – Corregidor fell to the advancing Japanese troops



Economic Conditions • Mickey Mouse Money – the currency used

during the Japanese era• Malnutrition was rampant• Kangkong became a common food to fight

hunger



Reconquering Manila• February 3, 1945 – the American soldiers together

with their Filipino comrades were within 15 miles of Manila

• August 6, 1945 – Hiroshima was bombed• August 9, 1945 – Nagasaki was bombed• September 2, 1945 – Emperor Hirohito of Japan had

accepted the unconditional surrender offered by the allied forces and the war in the Asia Pacific was over
