 Postwar Problems and the Republic

 The damage done by the war to the Philippines and the Filipinos was incalculable. The
basic problem, therefore, that confronted the Commonwealth and, later, the Republic,
was economic.
 Buildings, school houses, roads, bridges, livestock, sugar mills, agriculture, and banking
institutions had to be rehabilitated or reconstructed. The problem of collaboration also
faced the government.
 There was confusion in the national scene; the wounds of the recent war were as yet
unhealed. The United States gave material and financial aid to the Philippines on
condition that the Philippine Constitution should be amended in order to give the
Americans parity rights in the exploitation of the country’s natural resources.

Postwar Economic Condition

 The incomes of the people dipped radically and means of livelihood were reduced
tremendously.
 Poverty, resulting from widespread destruction of property, including work animals, was
rampant throughout the country.
 Production was almost a standstill in the early months of liberation due to lack of capital
to finance the restoration of destroyed machinery and other equipment.
 Shipping in railways were out of operation resulting in very limited production and
marketing of consumer goods;
 Farmers lost some thirty percent of their implements;
 Livestock was reduced was about by about sixty five percent resulting in the scarcity of
food;
 Facilities for irrigating farms were either destroyed or unrepaired; and
 Large areas of agricultural land were neglected.
 Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU)
 When the Americans hits the beaches of Luzon, food was extremely scarce. PCAU
organized food distributing centers in Manila and the provinces.
 In the amount of goods distributed was based on the number of persons in the family.
Because there was not much food to buy, even if one had the money, most of the heads
of the families padded the number of persons comprising the families in order to get
more goods.
 The agency provided speedy relief for all the people of Manila and the provinces which
had been recently liberated from Japanese rule. First organized in New Guinea on
September 28, 1944 took part in the Leyte campaigns.
 Its purpose was to assist the various military commanders in the civil administration and
relief of the areas liberated.

 Reorganization of the Government

 March 7, 1945, President Osmena and Executive Order providing for the restoration of
the executive departments of the government as they existed before the war.
 The Congress Convened
 June 9, 1845, Osmena called a special session of congress. Manuel A. Roxas, whose
ambition spoke for the so-called collaborationists by declaring that all men who were
employed during the Japanese occupation were actually loyal to the commonwealth
government.
 Back Pay Law, approved in 1948, promised to give three years back pay to all pre-war
government employees after the end of a ten year period, that is in 1958.

 The Collaboration Issue

 June 29, 1944, President Roosevelt stated that those who collaborated with the enemy
should be removed “from authority and influence over the political and economic life of
the country”
 September 11, American secretary of the interior Harold reminded Osmena, in a cable
gram of the late president Roosevelt’s policy regarding collaboration.
 September 26, 1945, Congressman C. Jasper Bell of Missouri introduced a bill
providing for free trade relations between the United States and the Philippines for a
period of 20 years.
 Bell Trade relation act provided for free trade relations between the US and the
Philippines until 1954.
 “Parity Rights” the bad feature of the Law giving Americans the right to dispose, exploit,
develop and utilize.
 Quirino’s Administration
 Quirino announced that his program of government would consisting restore the faith
and confidence of the people. His program compost of 2 parts; the first part was based
on the realization that the people had lost their confidence in the government. The
second was based on the pathetic lack of peace and order.
 The Hukbalahap Movement
 This movement has its deep roots in the Spanish encomienda system which developed
in to a system of exploitation. The founding of the hukbalahap was immediately
preceding the outbreak of the war in the pacific.
 The hukbalahap sovereignty is the high command of the hukbalahap imposed an iron
discipline on all its members. When the liberation and imprisonment, the American
landing in Lingayen in January 1945 was opportune, for the guerrillas had already
cleared out the Japanese obstacle.
 In the pacification campaign, Taruc and the other peasant leaders, in their desire to
make the countryside safe, cooperated with President Roxas in the campaign of
pacification. The Huk movement is not an isolated armed uprising against duly
constituted authority.
 The Tao in history is the common man, popularly known as the tao in Tagalog. He has
been the victim of injustices contempt and pity. When Magsaysay’s charismatic
leadership true to his promise, he work hard to make a tao a man in his community.
Magsaysay’s intentions regarding the tao for he wanted him to improve his lot within the
framework of the laws.

The Philippines During Martial Law

 Proclamation of Martial Law: On September 21, 1972, President Ferdinand E. Marcos placed the
Philippines under Martial Law.
 The declaration issued under Proclamation 1081 suspended the civil rights and imposed military
authority in the country.
 Marcos defended the declaration stressing the need for extra powers to quell the rising wave of
violence allegedly caused by communists.
 The emergency rule was also intended to eradicate the roots of rebellion and promote a rapid
trend for national development.
 The autocrat assured the country of the legality of Martial Law emphasizing the need for control
over civil disobedience that displays lawlessness.
 Marcos explained citing the provisions from the Philippine Constitution that Martial Law is a
strategic approach to legally defend the Constitution and protect the welfare of the Filipino
people from the dangerous threats posed by Muslim rebel groups and Christian vigilantes that
places national security at risk during the time.
 Marcos explained that martial law was not a military takeover but was then the only option to
resolve the country’s dilemma on rebellion that stages national chaos threatening the peace and
order of the country.
 The emergency rule, according to Marcos’s plan, was to lead the country into what he calls a
“New Society”.
 Marcos used several events to justify martial law. Threat to the country’s security was
intensifying following the re-establishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in
1968. Supporters of CPP’s military arm, the New People’s Army, also grew in numbers in Tarlac
and other parts of the country.
 The alleged attempt to the life of then Minister of Defense Juan Ponce Enrile gave Marcos a
window to declare Martial Law.
 Marcos announced the emergency rule the day after the shooting incident. Marcos also
declared insurgency in the south caused by the clash between Muslims and Christians, which
Marcos considered as a threat to national security.
 The Muslims were defending their ancestral land against the control of Christians who migrated
in the area. The minority group organized the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in
Malaysia and pushed for the autonomy of Mindanao from the national government.
 The move was initially supported by most Filipinos and was viewed by some critics as a change
that solved the massive corruption in the country. Martial law ceased the clash between the
executive and legislative branches of the government and a bureaucracy characterized by
special interest.
 Marcos started to implement reforms on social and political values that hindered effective
modernization. To match the accomplishments of its Asian neighbors, Marcos imposed the need
for self-sacrifice for the attainment of national welfare.
 His reforms targeted his rivals within the elite depriving them of their power and patronage but
did not affect their supporters (US Library of Congress, Martial Law and the Aftermath).
 Thirty-thousand opposition figures including Senator Benigno Aquino, journalists, student and
labor activists were detained at military compounds under the President’s command
(Proclamation 1081 and Martial Law). The army and the Philippine Constabulary seized weapons
and disbanded private armies controlled by prominent politicians and other influential figures
(Proclamation 1081 and Martial Law). Marcos took control of the legislature and closed
the Philippine Congress (Proclamation 1081 and Martial Law). Numerous media outfits were
either closed down or operated under tight control (Proclamation 1081 and Martial Law).
 Marcos also allegedly funnelled millions of the country’s money by placing some of his trusted
supporters in strategic economic positions to channel resources to him. Experts call this the
“crony capitalism.”
 The deterioration of the political and economic condition in the Philippines triggered the decline
of support on Marcos’ plans. More and more Filipinos took arms to dislodge the regime. Urban
 poor communities in the country’s capital were organized by the Philippine Ecumenical Council
for Community and were soon conducting protest masses and prayer rallies.
 These efforts including the exposure of numerous human rights violations pushed Marcos to
hold an election in 1978 and 1981 in an aim to stabilize the country’s chaotic condition. Marcos,
in both events, won the election; however, his extended term as President of the Republic of
the Philippines elicited an extensive opposition against his regime. Social unrest reached its
height after former Senator Benigno Aquino was murdered. The incident sent thousands of
Filipinos to the streets calling for Marcos’ removal from post.
Turning again to his electoral strategy, Marcos held a snap election in 1986 but what he hoped will
satisfy the masses only increased their determination to end his rule that seated Corazon Aquino, widow
of Benigno Aquino, as President of the Philippines ousting Marcos from Malacañang Palace and ending
the twenty-one years of tyrant rule.