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The Return of MacArthur
When General MacArthur returned to the Philippines with his army late in 1944, he was well supplied with information. It has been said that by the time MacArthur returned, he knew what every Japanese lieutenant ate for breakfast and where he had his hair cut. But the return was not easy. The Japanese Imperial General Staff decided to make the Philippines their final line of defense, and to stop the American advance toward Japan. They sent every available soldier, airplane and naval vessel into the defense of the Philippines. The Kamikaze corps was created specifically to defend the Philippines. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the biggest naval battle of World War II, and the campaign to re-take the Philippines was the bloodiest campaign of the Pacific War. But intelligence information gathered by the guerrillas averted a bigger disaster—they revealed the plans of Japanese General Yamashita to entrap MacArthur's army, and they led the liberating soldiers to the Japanese fortifications.
MacArthur's Allied forces landed on the island of Leyte on October 20, 1944, accompanied by Osmeña, who had succeeded to the commonwealth presidency upon the death of Quezon on August 1, 1944. Landings then followed on the island of Mindoro and around the Lingayen Gulf on the west side of Luzon, and the push toward Manila was initiated. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was restored. Fighting was fierce, particularly in the mountains of northern Luzon, where Japanese troops had retreated, and in Manila, where they put up a last-ditch resistance. The Philippine Commonwealth troops and the recognized guerrilla fighter units rose up everywhere for the final offensive. Filipino guerrillas also played a large role during the liberation. One guerrilla unit came to substitute for a regularly constituted American division, and other guerrilla forces of battalion and regimental size supplemented the efforts of the U.S. Army units. Moreover, the loyal and willing Filipino population immeasurably eased the problems of supply, construction, civil administration and furthermore eased the task of Allied forces in recapturing the country.
The Commonwealth
And World War II
(1935-1945)
The Commonwealth Reestablished
When Leyte was liberated from the Japanese, MacArthur reestablished the Commonwealth on October 23, 1944, with Tacloban as the temporary capital. On Feb. 27, 1945, MacArthur turned over the reins of government to President Osmeña. Then he porclaimed the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese
The End of the War
With the Japanese defeated in the Philippines, MacArthur now proposed to carry the war to Japan itself. Hundreds of huge bombers bomb Japan. But the Japanese refused to surrender. The Americans then dropped Atomic bombs on the Japanese Cities. On September 2, 1945, Japan signed the terms of surrender on board the battleship USS Missouri at Tokyo Bay. The war in the Pacific was finally over.
The invasion of the Philippines started on December 8, 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As at Pearl Harbor, the American aircraft were severely damaged in the initial Japanese attack. Immediately the congress declared war against Japan.
The Occupation of Manila
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, and it was occupied by the Japanese on January 2, 1942.
The Fall of Bataan and Corregidor
The Philippine defense continued until the final surrender of United States-Philippine forces on the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and on Corregidor in May. Most of the 80,000 prisoners of war captured by the Japanese at Bataan were forced to undertake the infamous "Bataan Death March" to a prison camp 105 kilometers to the north. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 men, weakened by disease and malnutrition and treated harshly by their captors, died before reaching their destination.
Some are the progresses made by the Commonwealth government (1930-1935):
Foreign Trade was made possible
Improvement of the country’s Transportation and Communication Facilities
Creation of National Economic Council
Prioritize Public Welfare
National Relief Administration was made
Women’s Suffrage was passed
Arts and Literature were encouraged by the government
Recommendation of Philippine Writers League
Economic Problems
Other economic problems occupied Quezon’s attention. The Philippine foreign trade was dominated by foreigners: the Americans, Chinese, and Japanese. When free trade between the Philippines and the US began in 1909, Philippine products entered the American markets free of duty. This led to artificial prosperity. It also led Filipinos to depend, almost exclusively on the American market. In 1937, Quezon made an agreement with President Roosevelt regarding the creation of a joint preparatory committee. It studied the economic problems of the Commonwealth. It recommended that some Philippine products would be allowed to enter the US in limited quantities, while others would enter without export duties.
Other Problems
Due to the diverse number 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 Philippine constitution. The Commonwealth created a Surian ng Wikang Pambansa, which was composed of Quezon and six other members from various ethnic groups. A deliberation was held and Tagalog was selected as the basis for the "national language" to be called “Filipino".
In 1940, the Commonwealth authorized the creation of a dictionary and grammar book for the language. On the same year, Commonwealth Act 570 was passed, allowing Filipino to become an official language upon independence.
The Japanese military authorities immediately began organizing a new government structure in the Philippines. Although the Japanese had promised independence for the islands after occupation, they initially organized a Council of State through which they directed civil affairs until October 1943, when they declared the Philippines an independent republic. Most of the Philippine elite, with a few notable exceptions, served under the Japanese. Philippine collaboration in Japanese-sponsored political institutions - which later became a major domestic political issue - was motivated by several considerations. Among them was the effort to protect the people from the harshness of Japanese rule (an effort that Quezon himself had advocated), protection of family and personal interests, and a belief that Philippine nationalism would be advanced by solidarity with fellow Asians. Many collaborated to pass information to the Allies. The Japanese-sponsored republic headed by President José P. Laurel proved to be unpopular.
National Security
When World War II broke out, the US which was hesitant about joining it at first, was not prepared to defend the Philippines as their colony. Consequently, the first law Quezon recommended to pass by the National Assembly was the National Defense Law. This Law provided for a citizen army composed of trainees who belonged to the 21-year old group. To put the Law in operation, Quezon appointed Gen. Douglas MacArthur as Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. Quezon did this as preparations to secure the military defense of the country against any foreign invader.
Social Problems
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. 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, 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.
The government established by the Americans in the Philippines was democratic and republican in form. The new government embarked on ambitious nation-building policies in preparation for economic and political independence. These included national defense, 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 war broke out in the Pacific and the Japanese occupied the Philippines for three years, the Filipinos remained loyal to the Americans as they suffered hunger, atrocities, and death in the hands of the Japanese.
Guerrilla Warfare
The 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 people and controlled much of Central Luzon. Remnants of the Philippine Army also fought the Japanese through guerrilla warfare, and it was successful, since all but 12 of the 48 provinces were liberated.
The Government-In-Exile
Quezon and Osmeña had accompanied the troops to Corregidor and later left for the United States, where they set up a government-in-exile. MacArthur was ordered to Australia, where he started to plan for a return to the Philippines.