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Philippines

The Philippine Independence Act Philippines: A Country Study, a report published by the US Library of Congress, states, “From the very beginning, United States presidents and their representatives in the islands defined their colonial mission as tutelage: preparing the Philippines for eventual independence. … [T]he issue was not whether the Philippines would be granted self-rule, but when and under what conditions.” American presence in the Philippines became more aggressive after the Philippines was ceded to the US by Spain in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. In 1899, US president William McKinley tasked the Schurman Commission to examine the conditions of the country as a colony. The next year, he appointed the Taft Commission to establish US sovereignty and government in the country. The Schurman Commission found that Filipinos were not fit to govern the country and would need American intervention so that the Philippines would not “lapse into anarchy” and division. Filipino self-government began only in 1916 with the passage of the Jones Law, which established a House of Representatives and a Senate that would include elected Filipinos. In 1933, the US Congress passed the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bill which promised Philippine independence after 10 years. The act, however, reserved military and naval bases for the US and imposed tariffs and quotas on Philippine exports. President Herbert Hoover vetoed the bill. The US Congress overrode the veto, but the Philippine Senate declined to ratify it upon the urgings of Manuel Quezon, who wanted an amended version. In 1934, the US Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act or the Philippine Independence Act, which established the Philippine Commonwealth and promised Filipino independence by 1946. This led to Quezon’s election as President of the Philippine Commonwealth on May 14, 1935. Apart from minor details, the Philippine Independence Act contained essentially the same provisions as those in the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act; laws that affect relations between the US and the Philippines up to the present. Friday, June 18, 2010 Back