Commonwealth Period

8/11/2019 Commonwealth Period

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1919-1934- Filipinos

campaigned for independence

and sent twelve independence

missions to America.1935- the Commonwealth of

the Philippines was finally

established.

July 4, 1946- this was the

preparatory step to the


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o . 1899-1901-Its was realize for a brief timewith the established for the First Philippine

Republic, only to be lost in a war against

Americans.oDefeated in a war, the people accepted

American rule, trained in the presence of

democracy, assimilated American politicaland cultural legacies. But they never ceased

to aspire for freedom.


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1907- the Philippine Assembly andthe later the Philippine Legislature

passed resolution expressing the

Filipino desire for independence. The Nacionalista Party won every

election because of its stirring cry:

Immediate Complete, and AbsoluteIndependence.


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During the First World War the Filipinostemporarily stopped their independence

campaign and supported the United States

against Germany. After the war they resumed

their independence drive with greater vigor. On

March 17, 1919, the Philippine Legislature

passed the famous Declaration of Purposes,

which stated the inflexible desire of the Filipinopeople to be free and sovereign.

February 28, 1919- Senate President Quezon,

left Manila to Washington. It consisted of 40

prominent Filipinos representing the political,


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President Wilson, in his farewell address toCongress on December 2, 1920,

recommended the granting of Philippine

Independence. Unfortunately, theRepublican Party then controlled

Congress, so that the recommendation of

the outgoing Democratic president was notheeded.


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The failure of the First IndependenceMission did not discourage the Filipino

people. In subsequent years other

indepence missions were sent across thePacific. The Second mission was sent in

1922, thre third in 1923, the fourth in

1924, the fifth in 1925, the sixth in 1927,

the seventh in 1928, the eight in 1930,

the ninth in 1931(OSROX MISSION), the

tenth (one-man mission consisting of

Benigno Aquino) in 1932,the eleventh in


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The OsRox Mission (1931) was a campaign for

self-government and United States recognition ofthe independence of the Philippines led by

former Senate President Sergio Osmea and

House Speaker Manuel Roxas. The mission

secured the HareHawesCutting Act, which

was rejected by the Philippine Legislature andManuel Quezon.

The OsRox Mission was the 9th IndependenceMission in a series of missions lasting from 1919

to 1933.[1] While the previous missions gave

good impressions of the Filipinos in the minds of

Americans, they were marked by


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The OsRox Mission stayed in the US the longest and

secured the passage of the HareHawesCutting

Act. It would establish the Philippine

Commonwealth as a transition government for 12years before receiving independence on July 4,

1946.[It separated the Philippine Legislature in two

"camps", the Antis and the Pros.The Pros were led

by Osmea and Roxas, who supported the act as

they believed it was the best one they could get out

of the US Congress.Senate President Manuel

Quezon led the Antis and objected the act due to its

"objectionable features.]He also believed that the

act did not truly grant the Philippines independence.


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The Philippine Legislature ended up rejecting the

OsRox Mission's work for the following reasons:

1.The provisions affecting the trade relationsbetween the United States and the Philippines

would seriously imperil the economic, social and

political institutions of the country and might

defeat the avowed purpose to secureindependence for the Philippines at the end of

the transition period.

2.The immigration clause was objectionable andoffensive to the Filipino people.

3.The powers of the High Commissioner were too

indefinite.

4.The military, naval and other reservations


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The HHC-act proved to be a disruptive factor in

the Philippine politics because it divided thepeople into two opposing camps theAntisandthe Pros. The Antis, led by Senate PresidentQuezon, opposed the act because of itas

objectionable features. The Pros, headed bySenator Osmea and Speaker Roxas, upheld iton ground that it was the best independencemeasure that could be obtained from Congress.

Before the final passage of the HHC-act, SenatePresident Quezon, who was in Manila,expressed his objections to the pendingindependence legislation. In December 1932, he

sent a one-man mission (Aquino) to Washingtonwith definite instruction re ardin his


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The following year Quezon left Manila at head of

the eleventh mission. The home-bound OSROX

Mission met the Quezon Mission in Paris. Thetwo missions failed to come to an understanding.

With strained relations, they returned together to

Manila.

It eclipsed the famous Osmea-Quezon fight in

1921, which split for the first time the

Nacionalistas into two warring factionsthe

unipersonalistas(Osmea Wing) and theColectivistas(Quezon Wing). On October 17,

1933, the Quezon-controlled Philippine

Legislature rejected the HHC-act. The following

month, Quezon himself led the twelfth mission to


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Following a series of conferences with President

Franklin D. Roosevelt and various Congressional

Leaders, Quezon was able to win Congress to

his side. A new independence measure, called

the Tydings-McDuffie Law (so named after itssponsors Senator Millard E. Tydings and

Representative John McDuffie), was passed and

signed by President Roosevelt on March 24,

1934. It was a revised copy of the spurned HHCact of 1933. The only difference from the HHC

act were the change in the title, the eleminetion

of military reservations, and the modification of

certain vague provisions.


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April 30, 1934Senate President Quezon

proudly returned to Manila with a copy of theTydings-McDuffie Law.

May 1The Philippine Legislature accepted the

law.

This did not end the controversy between the

Antis and the Pros, for the latter insisted that the

TydingsMcDuffie Law was the same as the

Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law. June 5, 1934-the issue was presented to the

people in the general election. The Pros down in

defeat. Quezon and his men surged to power by

popular vote. Osmea and Roxas were reelected


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The Tydings-McDuffie Law authorized thePhilippine Legislature to call a

constitutional convention to draft the

Constitution of the Philippines.

May 5, 1934-the Philippine Legislature

passed an act setting the election of 202

delegates to the convention.

Governor-General Frank Murphy-

designated July 10 as the date of election

of delegates to the convention.


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Of the 202 delegates the majoritywere lawyers, including many who

had been judges, legislator, andcabinet men. Others were

educators, scholars, writers,

physicians, farmers,businessmen, labor leaders, and

religious ministers. With the


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TEODORO SANDIKO(74 YEARS OLD)

WENCESLAO VINZONS(25 YEARS OLD)


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At 10:30 am in the morning of July 30, 1934- the convention

met in inaugural session at the hall of the House of

Representative, Legislative Building, Manila. The Batanes

delegates were delayed in coming to Manila because of the

difficulty of transportation. A vast crowd jamming the SessionHall to witness the opening ceremonies.

The convenmtionb was formally opened by Senater President

Quezon. A solemn invocation over, President Quezon

delivered a short speech, after which he oprdered the callingof the roll of delegates. A quorum was declared Jose P.

Laurel, delegate from Batangas, was chosen temporary

chairman, and he presided over the election of the

Convention officers.

The elected officers of the Convenmtion were Claro M. Recto,


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The convention was too unwieldy a body to draft

a constitution. It was therefore, divided into two

committees. There were sevebn standing

commitees on the organization and the functionof the Convention and forty committees of the

constitution. The largest and the most powerful

of these committees was the Sponsorship

Committee of 87 members, with Delegate

Filemon Sotto as chairman.

According to the rules adopted by the

Convention, any delegate could submit


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After working for sometime over the numerousproposals received from the different committee,

the Sponsorship Committee found out that it

could not work fast enough owing to its large

membership. Accordingly, on October 8, 1934, itcreated a Sub-Committee of Seven to draft the

Constitution. This body was composed of

Filemon Sotto (chairman), Manuel A. Roxas,

Norberto Romualdez, Manuel C. Briones,Condrado Benitez, Miguel Cuaderno, and

Vicente Singson Encarnacion, they were called

the seven wise men by the press.

October 20, 1934- the sub-committee of seven


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January 31, 1935- the convention approved the

draft, with certain amendments.

February 8, 1935- the constitution was approvedby the convention by a vote of 177 to 1. Twenty-

two members were absent. One member had

died in August 1934. The only dissenting vote

was cast by Delegate Tomas Cabili of Lanao. The drafting of the constitution lasted six months-

from July 30. 1934 to February 1935, amidst

impressive ceremonies.


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The establishment of theCommonwealth of the

PhilippinesThe Philippines during the

Commonwealth EraAgrarian Unrest in Central

Luzon


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Reorganization of the Government Filipinization of the Judiciary

Granting of Woman Suffrage

Creation of New Charted Cities

The Adaptation of a National Language Promotion of Social Justice

Promotion of the Education of the Filipinos

Compulsory Military Training of Able-Bodied Filipino Youths

Creation of the JPCA(Joint Preparatory Committee on PhilippineAffairs

Agricultural Development

Enhancement of Domestic Trade

Passage of Three Amendments to the 1935 Constitution


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