Commonwealth of

the Philippines

The Commonwealth of the

Philippines (Spanish: Commonwealth
de Filipinas;[1] Tagalog: Komonwelt ng
Pilipinas[3]) was the administrative
body that governed the Philippines
from 1935 to 1946, aside from a
period of exile in the Second World
War from 1942 to 1945 when Japan
occupied the country. It replaced the
Insular Government, a United States
territorial government, and was
established by the Tydings–McDuffie
Act. The Commonwealth was
designed as a transitional
administration in preparation for the
country's full achievement of
independence.[9]

Commonwealth of the
Philippines
Commonwealth de Filipinas
(Spanish)[1][2]
Komonwelt ng Pilipinas
(Tagalog)[3]

1935–1942
 Japanese occupation: 1942–45
1945–1946

Flag of the United States

(top)
Flag of the Philippines
(bottom)
Coat of arms

Motto: "E pluribus unum" (Latin) (de facto)

"Out of many, one"
"Mula sa marami, isa"  (Tagalog)

Anthem: The Philippine Hymn

0:00
Location of the Philippines in Southeast
Asia.
Status Associated state
and protectorate of
the United States

Capital Manilaa

Common language Spanish[4]
s English[4]

Religion Roman Catholicism

Government Unitary presidential

constitutional
republic under a
commonwealth

President  

• 1935–44 Manuel L. Quezon

• 1944–46 Sergio Osmeña

• 1944–46 Sergio Osmeña

• 1946 Manuel Roxas

High Commissioner  

• 1935–37 Frank Murphy

• 1937–39 Paul V. McNutt

• 1939–42 Francis Bowes

Sayre

• 1945–46 Paul V. McNutt

Vice President  

• 1935–44 Sergio Osmeña

• 1946 Elpidio Quirino

Legislature National Assembly

(1935–41)
Congress (1945–
46)
Historical era Interwar, World War
II

• Tydings– November 15,

McDuffie Act 1935[5][6][7][8]

• Independence July 4, 1946

• Treaty of Manila October 22, 1946

Area

1939 343,385.1 km2
(132,581.7 sq mi)

Population

• 1939 16,000,303

Currency Peso

Driving side left (before 1945)

right (after 1945)

Preceded by Succeeded by
 Insular Philippine Executive
Government Commission
Second Third Philippine
Philippine Republic
Republic

Today part of  Philippines

a. Capital held by enemy forces

between 24 December 1941 and
27 February 1945. Temporary
capitals were

Corregidor Island from 24

December 1941;
Iloilo City from 22 February
1942;
Bacolod from 26 February;
Buenos Aires, Bago City from
27 February;
27 February;
Oroquieta from 19 March;
Bukidnon from 23 March;
government-in-exile in
Melbourne, Australia, in April;
government-in-exile in
Washington, D.C., from May
1942 to October 1944;
Tacloban from 20 October
1944.

The Commonwealth
government continued its
existence as a government-in-
exile in the United States
during the Japanese
Occupation and later as the
Third Republic. In effect, there
 existed two Philippine
governments during the
Japanese occupation.

During its more than a decade of

existence, the Commonwealth had a
strong executive and a Supreme
Court. Its legislature, dominated by
the Nacionalista Party, was at first
unicameral, but later bicameral. In
1937, the government selected
Tagalog – the language of Manila and
its surrounding provinces – as the
basis of the national language,
although it would be many years
before its usage became general.
Women's suffrage was adopted and
the economy recovered to its pre-
Depression level before the Japanese
occupation in 1942.

The Commonwealth government went

into exile from 1942 to 1945, when
the Philippines was under Japanese
occupation. In 1946, the
Commonwealth ended and the
Philippines claimed full sovereignty as
provided for in Article XVIII of the
1935 Constitution.[10]

Names
The Commonwealth of the Philippines
was also known as the "Philippine
Commonwealth",[11][12] or simply as
"the Commonwealth". It had official
names in Tagalog: Kómonwélt ng
Pilipinas ([pɪlɪˈpinɐs]) and Spanish:
Commonwealth de Filipinas ([fili
ˈpinas]). The 1935 Constitution
specifies "the Philippines" as the
country's short-form name and uses
"the Philippine Islands" only to refer to
pre-1935 status and institutions.[10]
Under the Insular Government (1901–
1935), both terms had official
status.[a][13]

History
Creation

President Manuel Luis Quezon of the Philippines

March 23, 1935: Constitutional Convention.

Seated, left to right: George H. Dern, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Manuel L. Quezon
The pre-1935 U.S. territorial
administration, or Insular Government,
was headed by a governor general
who was appointed by the president
of the United States. In December
1932, the U.S. Congress passed the
Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act with the
premise of granting Filipinos
independence. Provisions of the bill
included reserving several military
and naval bases for the United States,
as well as imposing tariffs and quotas
on Philippine exports.[14][15] When it
reached him for possible signature,
President Herbert Hoover vetoed the
Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act, but the
American Congress overrode
Hoover's veto in 1933 and passed the
bill over Hoover's objections.[16] The
bill, however, was opposed by the
then-Philippine Senate President
Manuel L. Quezon and was also
rejected by the Philippine Senate.[17]

This led to the creation and passing

of a new bill known as the Tydings–
McDuffie Act[b] or the Philippine
Independence Act, which allowed the
establishment of the Commonwealth
of the Philippines with a ten-year
period of peaceful transition to full
independence – the date of which
was to be on the 4th of July following
the tenth anniversary of the
establishment of the
Commonwealth.[14][18][19]

A Constitutional Convention was

convened in Manila on July 30, 1934.
On February 8, 1935, the 1935
Constitution of the Commonwealth of
the Philippines was approved by the
convention by a vote of 177 to 1. The
constitution was approved by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt on
March 23, 1935, and ratified by
popular vote on May 14, 1935.[20][21]
On 16 September 1935,[5] presidential
elections were held. Candidates
included former president Emilio
Aguinaldo, the Iglesia Filipina
Independiente leader Gregorio
Aglipay, and others. Manuel L. Quezon
and Sergio Osmeña of the
Nacionalista Party were proclaimed
the winners, winning the seats of
president and vice-president,
respectively.[14]

The Commonwealth government was

inaugurated on the morning of
November 15, 1935, in ceremonies
held on the steps of the Legislative
Building in Manila. The event was
attended by a crowd of around
300,000 people.[5]

Pre-War

The new government embarked on

ambitious nation-building policies in
preparation for economic and political
independence.[14] These included
national defense (such as the
National Defense Act of 1935, which
organized a conscription for service in
the country), greater control over the
economy, the perfection of
democratic institutions, reforms in
education, improvement of transport,
the promotion of local capital,
industrialization, and the colonization
of Mindanao.

However, uncertainties, especially in

the diplomatic and military situation in
Southeast Asia, in the level of U.S.
commitment to the future Republic of
the Philippines, and in the economy
due to the Great Depression, proved
to be major problems. The situation
was further complicated by the
presence of agrarian unrest, and of
power struggles between Osmeña
and Quezon,[14] especially after
Quezon was permitted to be re-
elected after one six-year term.

A proper evaluation of the policies'

effectiveness or failure is difficult due
to Japanese invasion and occupation
during World War II.

World War II

Japan launched a surprise attack on

the Philippines on December 8, 1941.
The Commonwealth government
drafted the Philippine Army into the
U.S. Army Forces Far East, which
would resist Japanese occupation.
Manila was declared an open city to
prevent its destruction,[22] and it was
occupied by the Japanese on January
2, 1942.[23] Meanwhile, battles against
the Japanese continued on the
Bataan Peninsula, Corregidor, and
Leyte until the final surrender of
United States-Philippine forces in May
1942.[24]

Manuel L. Quezon visiting Franklin D. Roosevelt

in Washington, D.C. while in exile
Quezon and Osmeña were escorted
by troops from Manila to Corregidor,
and later left for Australia prior to
going to the U.S., where they set up a
government in exile, based at the
Shoreham Hotel, in Washington,
D.C.[25] This government participated
in the Pacific War Council as well as
the Declaration by United Nations.
Quezon became ill with tuberculosis
and died from it, with Osmeña
succeeding him as president.

The main general headquarters of the

Philippine Commonwealth Army
(PCA), located on the military station
in Ermita, Manila, was closed down on
December 24, 1941. Upon arrival of
the Japanese Imperial forces which
occupied Manila on January 2, 1942,
the defunct PCA main headquarters in
the capital city was occupied as the
Japanese assumed control.
Subsequent to commencement of the
Japanese occupation, from January 3,
1942 to June 30, 1946, during and
after the Second World War, the
general headquarters and military
camps and bases of the PCA military
stations in the main provinces of the
Philippine Archipelago from Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao were openly
under control of the PCA service and
began local military conflicts and to
engage operations against the
Japanese Occupation in this country.

Meanwhile, the Japanese military

organized a new government in the
Philippines known as the Second
Philippine Republic, headed by
president José P. Laurel. This pro-
Japanese government became very
unpopular.[26]

Resistance to the Japanese

occupation continued in the
Philippines. This included the
Hukbalahap ("People's Army Against
the Japanese"), which consisted of
30,000 armed men and controlled
much of Central Luzon.[26] Remnants
of the Philippine Army also
successfully fought the Japanese
through guerrilla warfare, eventually
liberating all but 12 of the 48
provinces.[26]

General MacArthur and President Osmeña

returning to the Philippines
General Douglas MacArthur's army
landed on Leyte on October 20, 1944,
and were welcomed as liberators,[14]
as were the Philippine
Commonwealth troops who arrived in
other amphibious landings. The
Philippine Constabulary was placed
on active service with the Philippine
Commonwealth Army and re-
established on October 28, 1944, to
June 30, 1946, during the Allied
liberation to Post-World War II era.
Fighting continued in remote corners
of the Philippines until Japan's
surrender in August 1945, which was
signed on September 2 in Tokyo Bay.
Estimates of Filipino war dead
reached one million, and Manila was
extensively damaged when Japanese
marines refused to vacate the city
when ordered to do so by the
Japanese High Command.[26]

After the war in the Philippines, the

Commonwealth was restored and a
one-year transitional period in
preparation for independence began.
Elections followed in April 1946 with
Manuel Roxas winning as the first
president of the independent Republic
of the Philippines and Elpidio Quirino
winning as vice-president. In spite of
the years of Japanese occupation, the
Philippines became independent
exactly as scheduled a decade before,
on July 4, 1946.

Independence

The Commonwealth ended when the

U.S. recognized Philippine
independence on July 4, 1946, as
scheduled.[27][28] However, the
economy remained dependent on the
U.S.[29] This was due to the Bell Trade
Act, otherwise known as the
Philippine Trade Act, which was a
precondition for receiving war
rehabilitation grants from the United
States.[30]

Policies
Uprisings and agrarian
reform

At the time, tenant farmers held

grievances often rooted to debt
caused by the sharecropping system,
as well as by the dramatic increase in
population, which added economic
pressure to the tenant farmers'
families.[31] As a result, an agrarian
reform program was initiated by the
Commonwealth. However, success of
the program was hampered by
ongoing clashes between tenants and
landowners.

An example of these clashes includes

one initiated by Benigno Ramos
through his Sakdalista movement,[32]
which advocated tax reductions, land
reforms, the breakup of the large
estates or haciendas, and the severing
of American ties. The uprising, which
occurred in Central Luzon in May
1935, claimed about a hundred lives.

National language
The Commonwealth had two official
languages; Spanish, and English.[4]
Due to the diverse number of
Philippine languages, a program for
the "development and adoption of a
common national language based on
the existing native dialects" was
drafted in the 1935 Constitution.[33]
The Commonwealth created the
Surián ng Wikang Pambansà (National
Language Institute), which was
initially composed of President
Quezon and six other members from
various ethnic groups. A deliberation
was held and Tagalog,[33] due to its
extensive literary tradition, was
selected as the basis for the "national
language" to be called "Pilipino".

In 1940, the Commonwealth

authorized the creation of a dictionary
and grammar book for the language.
In that same year, Commonwealth Act
570 was passed, allowing Filipino to
become an official language upon
independence.[33]

Economy
The cash economy of the
Commonwealth was mostly
agriculture-based. Products included
abaca, coconuts and coconut oil,
sugar, and timber.[34] Numerous other
crops and livestock were grown for
local consumption by the Filipino
people. Other sources for foreign
income included the spin-off from
money spent at American military
bases on the Philippines such as the
naval base at Subic Bay and Clark Air
Base (with U.S. Army airplanes there
as early as 1919), both on the island
of Luzon.

The performance of the economy was

initially good despite challenges from
various agrarian uprisings. Taxes
collected from a robust coconut
industry helped boost the economy by
funding infrastructure and other
development projects. However,
growth was halted due to the
outbreak of World War II.[34]

Demographics
In 1939, a census of the Philippines
was taken and determined that it had
a population of 16,000,303; of these
15.7 million were counted as "Brown",
141.8 thousand as "Yellow", 19.3
thousand as "White", 29.1 thousand
as "Negro", 50.5 thousand as "Mixed",
and under 1 thousand "Other".[35] In
1941, the estimated population of the
Philippines reached 17,000,000; there
were 117,000 Chinese, 30,000
Japanese, and 9,000 Americans.[36]
English was spoken by 26.3% of the
population, according to the 1939
Census.[37] Spanish, after English
overtook it beginning in the 1920s,
became a language for the elite and in
government; it was later banned
during the Japanese occupation.[38]

Estimated numbers of speakers of the

dominant languages:[33]

Cebuano: 4,620,685
 Tagalog: 3,068,565
Ilocano: 2,353,518
Hiligaynon: 1,951,005
Waray: 920,009
Kapampangan: 621,455
Pangasinan: 573,752

Government
The Commonwealth had its own
constitution, which remained effective
until 1973,[39] and was self-
governing[10] although foreign policy
and military affairs would be under
the responsibility of the United States,
and Laws passed by the legislature
affecting immigration, foreign trade,
and the currency system had to be
approved by the United States
president.[40]

During the 1935–41 period, the

Commonwealth of the Philippines
featured a very strong executive, a
unicameral National Assembly,[41][42]
and a Supreme Court,[43] all
composed entirely of Filipinos, as well
as an elected Resident Commissioner
to the United States House of
Representatives (as Puerto Rico does
today). An American High
Commissioner and an American
Military Advisor,[27] Douglas
MacArthur headed the latter office
from 1937 until the advent of World
War II in 1941, holding the military
rank of Field Marshal of the
Philippines. After 1946, the rank of
field marshal disappeared from the
Philippine military.

During 1939 and 1940, after an

amendment in the Commonwealth's
Constitution, a bicameral
Congress,[44] consisting of a
Senate,[44] and of a House of
Representatives,[44] was restored,
replacing the National Assembly.[44]
Politics
List of presidents

The colors indicate the political party

or coalition of each President at
Election Day.

Vice
# President Took office Left office Party Term
President

Manuel L. November 15, August 1, Sergio 1

1 Nacionalista
Quezon 1935 19441 Osmeña

Sergio May 28, 2

2 August 1, 1944 Nacionalista vacant
Osmeña 1946

July 4, Elpidio
3 Manuel Roxas May 28, 1946 Liberal 3
19462 Quirino

1 Died of tuberculosis at Saranac

Lake, New York.
2 End of Commonwealth government,
independent Republic inaugurated.
Quezon Administration
(1935–44)

Manuel L. Quezon, president from 1935–44

In 1935 Quezon won the Philippines'

first national presidential election
under the banner of the Nacionalista
Party. He obtained nearly 68% of the
vote against his two main rivals,
Emilio Aguinaldo and Bishop Gregorio
Aglipay.[45] Quezon was inaugurated
in November 1935.[46] He is
recognized as the second President
of the Philippines.[47] When Manuel L.
Quezon was inaugurated President of
the Philippines in 1935, he became
the first Filipino to head a government
of the Philippines since Emilio
Aguinaldo and the Malolos Republic in
1898. However, in January 2008,
Congressman Rodolfo Valencia of
Oriental Mindoro filed a bill seeking
instead to declare General Miguel
Malvar as the second Philippine
President, who took control over all
Filipino forces after American soldiers
captured President Emilio Aguinaldo
in Palanan, Isabela on 23 March
1901.[48]

Quezon had originally been barred by

the Philippine constitution from
seeking re-election. However, in 1940,
constitutional amendments were
ratified allowing him to seek re-
election for a fresh term ending in
1943.[49] In the 1941 presidential
elections, Quezon was re-elected over
former Senator Juan Sumulong with
nearly 82% of the vote.[50]

In a notable humanitarian act, Quezon,

in cooperation with U.S. High
Commissioner Paul V. McNutt,
facilitated the entry into the
Philippines of Jewish refugees fleeing
fascist regimes in Europe. Quezon
was also instrumental in promoting a
project to resettle the refugees in
Mindanao.[51]

Quezon suffered from tuberculosis

and spent his last years in a 'cure
cottage' in Saranac Lake, NY, where
he died on August 1, 1944.[52] He was
initially buried in Arlington National
Cemetery. His body was later carried
by the USS Princeton[53] and re-
interred in Manila at the Manila North
Cemetery before being moved to
Quezon City within the monument at
the Quezon Memorial Circle.[54]

Osmeña Administration
(1944–46)

Sergio Osmeña, president from 1944–46

Osmeña became president of the

Commonwealth on Quezon's death in
1944.[55] He returned to the
Philippines the same year with
General Douglas MacArthur and the
liberation forces.[56] After the war
Osmeña restored the Commonwealth
government and the various executive
departments. He continued the fight
for Philippine independence.

For the presidential election of 1946

Osmeña refused to campaign, saying
that the Filipino people knew of his
record of 40 years of honest and
faithful service.[57] Nevertheless, he
was defeated by Manuel Roxas, who
won 54% of the vote and became the
first president of the independent
Republic of the Philippines.[55]

Roxas Administration (May

28, 1946 – July 4, 1946)

Manuel Roxas, last president of the

Commonwealth from May 28, 1946 – July 4,
1946

Roxas served as the President of the

Commonwealth of the Philippines in a
brief period, from his subsequent
election on May 28, 1946 to July 4,
1946, the scheduled date of the
proclamation of Philippine
Independence.[58] Roxas prepared the
groundwork for the advent of a free
and independent Philippines, assisted
by the Congress (reorganized May 25,
1946), with Senator José Avelino as
the Senate President and
Congressman Eugenio Pérez as the
House of Representatives Speaker.[59]
On June 3, 1946, Roxas appeared for
the first time before the joint session
of the Congress to deliver his first
state of the nation address. Among
other things, he told the members of
the Congress the grave problems and
difficulties the Philippines were set to
face and reported on his special trip
to the U.S. — the approval for
independence.[60]

On June 21, he reappeared in another

joint session of the Congress and
urged the acceptance of two
important laws passed by the U.S.
Congress on April 30, 1946, regarding
the Philippine lands. They are the
Philippine Rehabilitation Act and the
Philippine Trade Act.[61] Both
recommendations were accepted by
the Congress.

See also
Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)
Political history of the Philippines
History of the Philippines
Philippine Organic Act (1902)
Jones Law (Philippines) Philippines
Organic Act (1916)
Treaty of Paris (1898)
Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935
Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act (1932)

Notes
 a. See for example, the Jones Law
of 1916, which uses "Philippines"
and "Philippine Islands"
interchangeably.
b. Officially, the Philippine
Independence Act ; Pub.L. 73–
127 ; approved on March 24,
1934.

References
1. "Official Ballot" . Presidential
Museum and Library. Retrieved
July 12, 2017. "Officials of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines
– Funcionarios del
Commonwealth de Filipinas"
2. Article XIV, Section 10, of the
2. Article XIV, Section 10, of the
Constitution of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines
which reads "[t]his Constitution
shall be officially promulgated in
English and Spanish, but in case
of conflict the English text shall
prevail."
3. "Constitutional Law" . Philconsa
Yearbook. Philippine Constitution
Association. 1965. Retrieved
September 26, 2014.
"Balangkas at Layunin ng
Pamahalaang Komonwelt" .
Bureau of Elementary Education.
Department of Education. 2010.
Archived from the original on