THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC

far across the Pacific almost 70 miles from the United States are the Philippines a group of seven thousand and 91 islands which make up the new independent philippine republic of all the countries invaded by the Axis powers in World War two few were more complete as peace came to their ruined cities and farms the Filipinos with the independence the US had promised them only a year away found they had little left with which to begin life as a nation 43 different racial groups with no common culture or tradition the Philippines became a Spanish possession following their discovery by Magellan in 1521 entirely dominated by their Spanish rulers the Filipino people in three centuries made little economic or political progress after Admiral George Dewey's victory at Manila Bay in 1898 Spain was forced to cede the philippines to the united states implacably opposed to american occupation of the Philippines was general Emilio Aguinaldo who thought two years up to 19 one was the leader of revolt against US government in the islands and who never became reconciled to the presence of American troops but as the benevolence of us rule one recognition and American ideas of democracy were introduced into the Philippines and orderly and peaceful campaign for self-government began staunchest champion of the philippine independence movement for over a quarter of a century was the late Manuel Luis Kazon who by 1934 had secured from the US a Commonwealth status for the Philippines and the promise of complete freedom by 1946 for his services in the struggle for independence grateful Filipinos in 1935 elected Manuel caisson as first president of their new Commonwealth by the time President caisson assumed office the Philippines under US rule had achieved a degree of progress and prosperity unmatched among any of the dependent peoples of the Far East but this prosperity was not widely distributed and the living standard of the masses of Filipinos was high only in comparison with the rest of the Orient men's day a Philippine economy was agriculture with rice as the one big food crop the islands farms were largely held by big landowners for whom millions of poorly paid Filipinos worked in lifelong peonage fewer bees were able to acquire land of their own though three-quarters of the islands arable soil lay idle of the few exportable crops on which Philippine prosperity depended most important was cane sugar of which the Philippines produced over a million tons a year exporting almost two-thirds of it to the United States another major source of income in the islands was the growing of abaca and it's processing into Manila hemp a strong fiber found only in the Philippines hemp is converted into a rope of outstanding quality in demand throughout the world included among the islands great mineral resources of still undetermined extent our immense deposits of chromite which were found less than 20 years ago and huge veins of gold discovered on the island of luzon among the richest in the world these minds are capable of producing as much as a million finances of gold each year but all these industries brought benefits chiefly to a few shrewd investors who formed a small ownership class between this group and the great masses of Philippine people that existed almost no middle class in pre-war times foreigners controlled many of the biggest Philippine industries and the economy of the islands based almost entirely upon trade with the u.s. depended chiefly upon tariff concessions which gave Philippine products a favored position in American markets during the four decades of American rule more money was spent on public health and education than on any other function of government an almost universal illiteracy was greatly reduced through the establishment in every village in town of at least one primary school with much of the teaching modeled after us methods of progressive education to send a son or a daughter to the University of the Philippines Filipinos were willing to make tremendous sacrifices for the ambition of most families was to have at least one girl or boy graduate into some respected business or profession until philippine independence would finally take effect defense of the islands rested upon the u.s. fleet units based at cavite in Manila Bay and upon the US Air Force is assembled and maintained in the Philippines but Filipinos knew that from the day their freedom became an accomplished fact the responsibility for national defense might well be there General Douglas MacArthur who with major Dwight Eisenhower as his assistant commanded American forces in the Philippines was the man president caisson chose to head the new Philippine military establishment MacArthur set out on a program by which he hoped within 10 years to have a trained army of 300,000 capable of holding off any threatened invasion you but before MacArthur's military program was half completed lore struck the philippines within five months Japan overwhelmed the few thousand ill-equipped American and Filipino troops defending the island and in place of the Americans who had governed with justice and who promised freedom came the Japanese who governed by the sword and offered nothing but slavery of all the dependent peoples of Asia the common people of the Philippines alone United to resist the Conqueror all over the islands behind Japanese lines guerrilla armies sprang up Filipinos of many races religions and dialects forgot their differences with whatever weapons were at hand plus what could be smuggled in the Filipino guerrillas fought the Japanese for three hard years many American army officers who had avoided capture were among their leaders to these the Filipino guerrillas funneled military information which proved invaluable to us operations on the Pacific you with the triumphant return of MacArthur backed by powerful armies and an immense supply organization the u.s. put to full use the fighting effectiveness of the islands guerrillas all fitted with American weapons and equipment they joined forces with MacArthur's men in the final hard-fought campaign to wipe out the Japanese within nine months of the first landing on late a US forces had virtually completed the liberation of the island everywhere the Americans were greeted as saviors by a grateful people to the Filipinos this was the vindication of their faith in the United States and in their hero General Douglas MacArthur after three long years of slavery the Philippine people could once again live in freedom and to their American allies beside whom they had fought so valiantly they looked hopefully for aid in peace as they had in war as they faced a gigantic task of rehabilitation the Filipinos had ample need of the stoicism encouraged they had shown under occupation with supplies drastically depleted food allowances had to be restricted to the barest minimum and the hunt for enough nourishment to keep alive became an endless preoccupation of city dwellers to start the monumental task of reconstruction as well as to create employment the Philippine government set out with the help of the US Army to enroll available workers in a temporary labor pool thousands of men signed up for an intensive course of training in American army engineering methods and were employed all over the islands clearing the debris of war to make way for the establishments of peace in Manila Harbor laborious salvage operations were begun to recover for the Philippine government eight and a half million dollars worth of coins all the silver in the islands pre-war Treasury which had been dumped into the bay early in the war to prevent its falling into Japanese hands for months Army and Navy divers worked in 20 fathoms of water to reclaim the treasure which had lain there since before the fall of Korea door first step in reorganizing the financial life of the islands was to restore banking facilities and make possible the ordinary business trends signs of peace time for until Philippine Commerce and Industry could be reestablished there would be no adequate source of tax revenues with which to finance rehabilitation the need for money and construction materials was immediate and urgent and for these there was only one place to turn the United States recognizing this fact the u.s. sent to Manila a mission headed by Senator Millard eat tidings to determine the extent of the assistance the Philippines would need on the recommendation of the tidings report the u.s. in 1946 granted president sergio oz menos government over half a billion dollars for reconstruction plus special tariff and trade privileges to last for 28 years though the path ahead is still a thorny one the people of the Philippines have at least gained from the war a new regard for democracy and are today politically alive in vacuum proud of the part they played in liberation newly conscious of their collective power the ordinary people of the islands are demanding a bigger stake in the future of the country for which they fought voting for a president to lead their infant Republic through its first four critical years of independence the Philippine people chose manual hakuna rojas long the leader of the insular senate a skilled and experienced politician Manuel Rojas is enable economist as well with freedom at last and with the sorely needed financial and economic assistance of the u.s. already there's the 18 million citizens of the Philippines are today setting out on the high road of Independence aware as never before of their national identity they are determined to make for themselves a respected place in the family of free and independent nation