In keeping with other exigencies posed by the Constitution, new offices and boards were created either

by Executive Order or by appropriate legislative action.[10] Among these were the Council of National
Defense,[11] the Board of National Relief,[12] the Mindanao and Sulu Commission, and the Civil Service
Board of Appeals.[10][13]

Social justice program

Pledged to improve the lot of the Philippine working class and taking inspiration from the social
doctrines of Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius XI as well as the authoritative treatises of the world's leading
sociologists, President Quezon started a vigorous program of social justice, which he introduced through
appropriate executive measures and legislation obtained from the National Assembly.[10]

Thus, a court of Industrial Relations was established to mediate disputes, under certain conditions,
minimizing the inconveniences of the strikes and lockouts. A minimum wage law was enacted, as well as
a law providing for an eight-hour work day and a tenancy law for the Filipino farmers. Another measure
was the creation of the position of Public Defender to help poor litigants in their court suits.[10]

Commonwealth Act No. 20 authorized Quezon to institute expropriation proceedings and/or acquire
large landed estates to re-sell them at nominal cost and under easy terms to tenants thereon, thus
enabling them to possess a lot and a home of their own. It was by virtue of this law that the Buenavista
estate was acquired by the Commonwealth Government. Quezon also launched a cooperative system of
agriculture among the owners of the subdivided estates in order to alleviate their situation and to
provide them greater earnings.[10][14]

In all these, Quezon showed an earnest desire to follow the constitutional mandate on the promotion of
social justice.[10]

Economy

Upon the creation of the Commonwealth, the economic condition of the nation was stable and
promising.[10] With foreign trade reaching a peak of four hundred million pesos, the upward trend in
business was accentuated and assumed the aspect of a boom. Exports crops were generally good and,
with the exception of tobacco, they were all in high demand in foreign trade markets. Indeed, the value
of the Philippine exports reached an all high of 320,896,000 pesos, the highest since 1929.[10]

Manuel Quezon signing documents.

Additionally, government revenues amounted to 76,675,000 pesos in 1936, as compared with the 1935
revenue of 65,000,000 pesos. Even the government companies, with the exception of the Manila
Railroad, managed to earn profits. Gold production increased about 37% and iron nearly 100%, while
cement production augmented by some 14%.[10]

Notwithstanding this prosperous situation,[10] the government had to meet certain economic problems
besetting the country. For this purpose, the National Economic Council was created. This body advised
the government in economic and financial questions, including promotion of industries, diversification of
crops and enterprises, tariffs, taxation, and formulation of an economic program in the preparation for
the future independent Republic of the Philippines.[10]

Again, a law reorganized the National Development Company; the National Rice and Corn Company
(NARIC) was created and was given a capital of four million pesos.[10]

Upon the recommendation of the National Economic Council, agricultural colonies were established in
the country, especially in Koronadal, Malig, and other appropriate sites in Mindanao. The government,
moreover, offered facilities of every sort to encourage migration and settlement in those places.[10] The
Agricultural and Industrial Bank was established to aid small farmers with convenient loans on easy
terms.[15] Attention was also devoted to soil survey, as well as to the proper disposition of lands of the
public domain. These steps and measures held much promise for improved economic welfare.[10]

Agrarian reform

See also: Land reform in the Philippines

When the Commonwealth Government was established, President Quezon implemented the Rice Share
Tenancy Act of 1933.[16][17] The purpose of this act was to regulate the share-tenancy contracts by
establishing minimum standards.[16] Primarily, the Act provided for better tenant-landlord relationship,
a 50–50 sharing of the crop, regulation of interest to 10% per agricultural year, and a safeguard against
arbitrary dismissal by the landlord.[16] However, because of one major flaw of this law, no petition for
the Rice Share Tenancy Act was ever presented.[16]

The major flaw of this law was that it could be used only when the majority of municipal councils in a
province petitioned for it.[16] Since landowners usually controlled such councils, no province ever asked
that the law be applied. Therefore, Quezon ordered that the act be mandatory in all Central Luzon
provinces.[16] However, contracts were good for only one year. By simply refusing to renew their
contract, landlords were able to eject tenants. As a result, peasant organizations clamored in vain for a
law that would make the contract automatically renewable for as long as the tenants fulfilled their
obligations.[16]
In 1936, this Act was amended to get rid of its loophole, but the landlords made its application relative
and not absolute. Consequently, it was never carried out in spite of its good intentions. In fact, by 1939,
thousands of peasants in Central Luzon were being threatened with wholesale eviction.[16]

The desire of Quezon to placate both landlords and tenants pleased neither. By the early 1940s,
thousands of tenants in Central Luzon were ejected from their farmlands and the rural conflict was more
acute than ever.[16]