During World War II, Imperial Japan occupied the Philippines between 1942 and 1945.

On December 8, 1941, ten hours after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Philippines were invaded. The initial
Japanese attack severely damaged American aircraft, as it did at Pearl Harbor. The American Asiatic Fleet
in the Philippines withdrew to Java on December 12, 1941, due to a lack in air cover. General Douglas
MacArthur was ordered to leave Corregidor on the night of March 11, 1942, for Australia, 4,000 km. On
April 9, 1942, the 76,000 starving and sickly American and Filipino defenders in Bataan surrendered, and
were forced to endure the infamous Bataan Death March, in which 7,000–10,000 people died or were
murdered. On May 6, the 13,000 survivors on Corregidor surrendered. Japan occupied the Philippines
for more over three years until surrendering. Philippine resistance forces controlled 60% of the islands,
mostly jungle and mountain areas, due to a highly effective guerilla campaign. MacArthur provided them
of submarine supplies and reinforcements and officers.

On July 4, 1946, the Philippines passed from Commonwealth to independence stage. The new member
of the international community's government was based on the same instrument as the
Commonwealth's, the 1935 Constitution, as changed in 1940. As late dr. J. R. Hayden put it. The
Philippines' Constitution, viewed as a whole, reflects the Filipino, Spanish, and American antecedents
which have influenced the Filipino people. Since 1933, the instrument has been colored by ideas that
have become popular in the United States, as well as our traditional political philosophy. It bears the
imprint of the revolutionary changes which have swept through most of Europe and reversed Japan's
political trend in the last twenty years. It demonstrates that those who drafted it had a high degree of
political capacity in both form and substance. While it is a legacy of the past, it is clearly a weapon of
government for the uncertain present and uncertain future. Above all, it is a Filipino instrument, not a
foreign one, and it sets the constitutional foundation for a fully Filipino government.