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Philippines Education
 Education
Education in the Philippines is free and compulsory for children
of ages 7 through 12. Although Filipino is taught and, in the
lower grades, local dialects are also used, English is the main
language of instruction. Almost 90 percent of the adult
population is literate.
 In the late 1980s about 9.2 million pupils were enrolled
annually in elementary schools, and some 3.4 million students
attended secondary schools. Approximately 1.1 million students
attended universities and colleges, such as the University of
the Philippines (1908), in Quezon City; Adamson University
(1932), the University of the East (1946), Far Eastern
University (1928), Feati University (1946), and the University
of Santo Tomás (1611), all in Manila; Bicol University (1969),
in Legaspi; the University of Mindanao (1946), in Davao; Saint
Louis University (1911), in Baguio; and Southwestern University
(1946), in Cebu.
Philippines, Republic of the, republic in the western Pacific
Ocean, made up of the Philippine Islands and forming in physical
geography a part of the Malay Archipelago. Situated about 1210
km (about 750 mi) east of the coast of Vietnam, the Philippines
are separated from Taiwan on the north by the Bashi Channel. The
republic is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the
south by the Celebes Sea, and on the west by the South China
Sea. The country comprises about 7100 islands, of which only
about 460 are more than 2.6 sq km (more than 1 sq mi) in area.
Eleven islands have an area of more than 2590 sq km (more than
1000 sq mi) each and contain the bulk of the population. These
islands are Luzon, Mindanao, Samar, Negros, Palawan, Panay,
Mindoro, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, and Masbate. The total area of the
Philippines is about 300,000 sq km (about 115,830 sq mi). Manila
is the capital and largest city of the Philippines.
Land and Resources
The Philippines are the northernmost island group of the Malay
Archipelago, extending about 1850 km (about 1150 mi) almost due
north and south between Borneo and Taiwan; the eastern and
western extent is almost 1127 km (almost 700 mi). The islands,
of volcanic origin, are the summits of a partly submerged
mountain mass, and all are mountainous. In general the
Philippine ranges extend north to south paralleling the coasts
and in many places bordering them. Earthquakes are fairly common
in the islands, which include about 20 active volcanoes.
On the smaller islands the mountains form a backbone and are the
principal topographical feature. The larger islands,
particularly Luzon and Mindanao, have a more diversified
topography, with broad plains and level, fertile valleys in the
interior. In northern Luzon the valley of the Cagayan River is a
plain about 80 km (about 50 mi) wide, surrounded by the
mountains of the Sierra Madre on the east, the Cordillera
Central on the west, and the Caraballo Mountains on the south.
To the south of the Caraballo Mountains is the Central Plain,
which extends from Lingayen Gulf to Manila Bay, and Laguna de
Bay, the largest lake of Luzon. The plain is drained by the Agno
River in the north and by the Pampanga River in the south. On
the southwestern coast are the Zambales Mountains. Luzon has a
narrow, mountainous extension to the southeast called the Bicol
Peninsula. Mount Mayon, an active volcano that erupted without
warning in February 1993, is on this peninsula just north of
Legaspi. Dormant for about 600 years, Mount Pinatubo, a volcano
located in central Luzon, erupted in late June 1991 and again in
July 1992.
On Mindanao, the largest island of the Philippines after Luzon,
the Diuata Mountains border the Pacific coast, and west of them
lies the valley of the Agusan River. In southwestern Mindanao is
a large lowland area, the valley of Mindanao. One of the
southern Mindanao ranges contains Apo Volcano (2954 m/9692 ft),
which is the highest point in the Philippines. The coastlines of
all the islands are extremely irregular, measuring about 22,530
km (about 14,000 mi) in length.
Rivers
The principal islands of the Philippines are traversed by large
rivers, some of which are navigable. The longest river on Luzon
is the Cagayan; other important rivers on the island include the
Chico, Abra, Pampanga, and Bicol. The Río Grande de Mindanao
(known in its upper course as the Pulangi) and the Agusan are
the principal rivers of Mindanao.
Climate
The Philippine Islands are within the Tropics and have a mean
annual temperature of about 27° C (about 80° F). In general,
interior valleys and leeward sides of islands are warmer than
the mean; mountain slopes and peaks and windward sides of
islands are cooler than the mean. Rainfall averages about 2030
mm (about 80 in) a year in the lowlands. In most of the
Philippine Islands the rainy season occurs during the summer
monsoon, from May to November, when the wind blows from the
southwest; the dry season occurs during the winter monsoon, from
December to April, when the wind blows from the northeast. From
June to October the Philippine Islands are sometimes struck by
typhoons, which occasionally cause great damage.
Natural Resources
The Philippines are richly endowed with mineral and forest
resources. The principal minerals are gold, copper, iron,
chromite, manganese, salt, and coal. Other minerals found here
include silver, lead, mercury, limestone, petroleum, nickel, and
uranium.
Plants and Animals
About 37 percent of the Philippines is covered by forest or
woodland. Among the trees are the banyan, many varieties of
palm, trees yielding rubber, and many indigenous trees with
extremely hard wood such as apitong, yacal, lauan, camagón, ipil,
white and red narra, and mayapis. Bamboo and cinnamon, clove,
and pepper plants grow wild, as do numerous species of orchid.
One of the most valuable indigenous plants is the abaca, or
Manila hemp, a plantain, the fiber of which is used in making
cordage, textiles, and hats. Mangrove trees and nipa palms grow
in coastal swamps, and considerable areas of the uplands are
covered by coarse grasses of little value for cattle. Except for
rodents, comparatively few varieties of mammals are found in the
islands. The most important are the domesticated water buffalo
called the carabao, several species of deer, wild and
domesticated pigs, the mongoose, and a variety of humped cattle.
Reptiles are numerous, and the islands contain about 760 species
of birds, including colorful parrots. Coastal waters teem with
marine fauna, particularly mollusks, for which the Philippines
are noted. Pearl oysters are abundant around the Sulu
Archipelago, in the extreme southwest, and Sulu pearls are
famous.
Soils
About 27 percent of the land of the Philippines is considered
arable. In the northern islands the soils are chiefly of
volcanic origin; coral limestone is an important constituent of
the soils in the southern islands. In general the soils of the
archipelago are of poor quality.
Population
The term Filipino, which originally denoted a person of Spanish
descent born in the Philippines and was comparable to the term
Creole in the Spanish-American colonies, has been applied since
the 19th century to the Christianized Malays who constitute the
bulk of the Philippine population.
The aboriginal inhabitants of the archipelago were pygmy
Negritos. During the prehistoric period Malayan peoples invaded
the islands in successive waves beginning about 200 BC. The
present Filipinos, principally descendants of the Malay
invaders, are divided mainly according to language and religion.
The most important numerically are the Visayans, living
primarily in the central portion of the archipelago, and the
Tagalogs, in central Luzon. The Ilokanos, the third most
important group, live mainly in the Cagayan Valley on Luzon.
People of Spanish and Chinese descent constitute the chief
non-Malay groups. In the southern portion of the archipelago,
particularly in western Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, and
southern Palawan Island, are two Muslim groups, the Moro and the
Samal. Mestizos, people of mixed Filipino and white or Chinese
descent, form a small but economically and politically important
minority.
Population Characteristics
The population of the Philippines (1990 census) was 60,703,206,
giving an overall population density of about 204 persons per sq
km (about 524 per sq mi). The distribution, however, is uneven;
large areas are virtually uninhabited, while others have a
relatively high population density. The nation was about 41
percent urban in the late 1980s. The population growth rate was
about 2.7 percent per year.
Principal Cities
Manila (population, 1990 census, 1,601,234) is the capital of
the Philippines and the country's chief port and main commercial
center. The population of the Manila metropolitan area is
7,832,000. Other important cities include Quezon City
(1,669,776), which is part of the Manila metropolitan area, and
served as the country's capital from 1948 to 1976; Davao
(843,607), a provincial capital and a seaport; Cebu (610,415), a
seaport and the trade center for a farming and coal-mining
region; and Zamboanga (442,000), also a seaport.
Religion
Of the Philippine population, about 84 percent are Roman
Catholics, about 4 percent are Muslims, and about 10 percent are
Protestants or of other denominations, including the Philippine
Independent Church, or Aglipayans, a schismatic group of Roman
Catholics founded about 1902 by Gregorio Aglipay, a Filipino
priest.
Language
The official language of the Philippines is Filipino, formerly
spelled Pilipino, which is based on Tagalog. The country lacks a
common language, however, and English is commonly used for
educational, governmental, and commercial purposes. Spanish,
formerly an official language, is spoken by a dwindling minority
of the population. About 80 languages and dialects are spoken in
the islands, of which about ten, belonging to the
Malayo-Polynesian language family, are of regional importance.
Culture
The existence of a number of different languages, dialects, and
religious traditions has meant that the Filipinos developed no
single national culture. Over many centuries of Philippine
history cultural development has been local in nature, enriched
by influences from China, Malaysia, Europe, and the United
States. Indigenous folk elements find expression in literature
and music as well as other cultural forms. Traditional sports
include arnis, a kind of fencing with wooden sticks, and sipa, a
game much like volleyball, except that the players use their
feet rather than their hands and arms. Such sports as
cockfighting and boxing are very popular, and American influence
is seen in the wide popularity of baseball and basketball.
One of the most notable characteristics of the Filipino society
is the tradition of strong family loyalty. This is reflected in
the absence of such institutions as old people's homes and
orphanages. Since precolonial times Filipino women have held
high positions in the society, and today many businesses are
managed by women.
Libraries and Museums
In addition to the university libraries, the major libraries of
the country are the Manila City Library, the National Library,
and the library of the Science and Technology Information
Institute, all in Manila. The Lopez Memorial Museum and Library,
in Pasay, has collections of paintings by major Filipino
artists, as well as the letters and manuscripts of the writer
and patriot Jose Rizal. The Santo Tomás Museum, in Manila, has
major archaeological and natural-history collections,
illustrating the history of the islands. The National Museum, in
Manila, has divisions of anthropology, botany, geology, and
zoology, along with art collections and a planetarium.
Literature
Philippine literature before the arrival of the Spanish
consisted of oral folk stories and proverbs passed down in the
various dialects of the islands. Literature under Spanish
influence was primarily religious, and it developed further
under the American influence to include short stories and drama.
Among the writers of the Philippines are the novelist José Rizal;
Francisco Balagtas, a poet and philosopher; José Garcia Villa, a
poet and one of the outstanding short-story writers; Carlos P.
Romulo, a journalist and diplomat; the poet and playwright Claro
Recto; poet, novelist, and playwright Nick Joaquín; and Pas
Marques Benitz, a short-story writer.
Music
The kundiman, a combination of words and music, is unique to the
islands. Musicians of some fame in the Philippines include
Rodolfo Cornejo, composer and conductor; Antonino Buenaventura,
conductor; and Antonio J. Molina, conductor and composer. Folk
dancing is also popular and includes many ceremonial and
traditional dances for a variety of occasions.
Painting
Until the 19th century painting and sculpture of the Philippines
were strongly influenced by the Roman Catholic church. More
recent painting generally has secular themes or is abstract.
Noted painters include Juan Luna and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo,
whose works are in romantic and impressionist styles; Fernando
Amorsolo, known for his landscapes; Fabián de la Rosa, who
specialized in portraiture; and Carlos Francisco and Vicente
Manansala, both muralists.
Economy
The economy of the Philippines is predominantly agricultural,
although manufacturing has grown considerably since 1945.
According to the constitution, all land and water in the public
domain and all natural resources are state-owned and can be
exploited only by Philippine citizens or organizations
controlled by Philippine citizens. A 1948 agreement extended
such rights of exploitation, for a limited period, to citizens
of the United States. The United States has contributed
substantial economic assistance to the Philippines. The
estimated annual budget in the late 1980s included revenue of
$5.7 billion and expenditure of $7 billion.
Agriculture
About 43 percent of the working population of the Philippines is
engaged in agriculture. The most important subsistence crops are
rice, corn, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Copra, sugarcane, and
tobacco are the principal commercial crops. Fruit crops include
bananas, oranges, mangoes, pineapples, and papayas. Annual
production in the late 1980s totaled about 15.7 million metric
tons of sugarcane, 9 million tons of rice, 4.4 million tons of
corn, 1.7 million tons of copra, 1.8 million tons of cassava,
and 56,000 tons of tobacco. Livestock on farms numbered about
2.9 million water buffalo, 1.7 million cattle, 60 million
chickens, 2.1 million goats, 300,000 horses, and 7.6 million
hogs.
Forestry and Fishing
Forests cover about 37 percent of the total area of the
Philippines. Annual production in the late 1980s included some
36.7 million cu m (some 1.3 billion cu ft) of timber. In
addition, bamboo and rattan were cut for use in making
furniture, baskets, and other products. Marine fishing is a
major industry; the annual catch of some 2 million metric tons
includes milkfish, scad, anchovy, tuna, squid, shrimp, and crab.
Sponge fisheries operate off the southern islands.
Mining
The mining industry is an important aspect of the economy of the
Philippines. Leading products include gold (1 million troy oz
annually in the late 1980s), silver (1.6 million troy oz),
copper (214,100 metric tons), nickel (8510 tons), salt (466,400
tons), and coal (1.2 million tons).
Manufacturing
The manufacturing sector has expanded greatly since the 1950s.
Processed food, textiles, tobacco products, and other nondurable
goods continue to make up the largest percentage of
manufacturing output. The production of durable items, however,
especially furniture, electrical and electronic items,
nonelectrical machinery, and transport equipment, has shown
substantial gains. Other major products include refined
petroleum, chemicals, construction materials, and clothing.
Output of leading products in 1990 included 1.7 million metric
tons of raw sugar, 6.4 million metric tons of cement, and 71.5
billion cigarettes.
Energy
In the late 1980s the Philippines had an installed
electricity-generating capacity of about 6.4 million kilowatts,
and annual production was some 23.9 billion kilowatt-hours.
About 22 percent of the electricity was generated in
hydroelectric facilities; 19 percent came from geothermal
resources, and almost all the rest was produced in thermal
plants burning refined petroleum or coal. Several new
hydroelectric projects were planned in the 1980s to reduce
expenditure on petroleum imports.
Currency and Banking
The unit of currency is the Philippine peso, which is divided
into 100 centavos (24.29 pesos equal U.S.$1; 1992). The Central
Bank of the Philippines (1949) has sole control of the credit
and monetary supply, independent of the treasury. In addition,
the country is served by 33 commercial banks, 44 private
development banks, and more than 20 other banking institutions.
Foreign Trade
The Philippines generally spends considerably more on imports
than it earns from exports; in the late 1980s annual imports
totaled about $10.4 billion and exports $7.8 billion. The
leading imports are petroleum, machinery, transportation
equipment, metals, chemicals, foodstuffs, and textiles. The main
exports are electrical and electronic components, coconut oil,
metal ores, clothing, raw sugar, copra, bananas, seafood, canned
pineapples, logs, and lumber. Principal trade partners include
the United States, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Great
Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia. The Philippines is
also a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).
Transportation
Despite the difficult terrain, the Philippines has a good road
system of some 157,810 km (some 98,110 mi), about 14 percent of
which is paved. The country has about 1060 km (about 660 mi) of
operated railroad track. The national air carrier is Philippine
Airlines (PAL), and the main international airport serves
Manila. The country has many seaports, the busiest including
Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, and Zamboanga.
Communications
The Philippines has more than 25 daily newspapers, most
published in Manila. The People's Journal and People Tonight
have large circulations. Many newspapers are written both in
English and Filipino. The country has an extensive broadcasting
system, and about 7.5 million radio and 6.7 million television
receivers were in use in the late 1980s. More than 850,000
telephones were in service.
Labor
The work force of the Philippines numbered about 22.9 million
people in the late 1980s; more than 40 percent worked in
agriculture. Of an estimated 4.9 million workers who were
members of labor unions, about 3.8 million belonged to
organizations affiliated with the Trade Union Congress of the
Philippines.
Government
A new constitution was ratified by national referendum in
February 1987.
Executive
The head of state and chief executive of the Philippines is a
president, elected by direct universal suffrage to a single
six-year term. The vice president may serve no more than two
successive six-year terms.
Legislature
Under the Philippine constitution, the bicameral legislature
consists of a senate of 24 members, serving six-year terms, and
a house of representatives with a maximum of 250 members,
serving three-year terms. The first general elections for the
legislature under the new constitution were held in May 1987.
Judiciary
The highest tribunal in the Philippines is the supreme court,
made up of a chief justice and 14 associate justices, all
appointed by the country's president. Other judicial bodies
include a court of appeals, courts of the first instance, and
municipal courts.
Local Government
The Philippines is divided into 73 provinces, each headed by a
governor, plus the national capital region. The provinces are
subdivided into a total of 60 chartered cities, more than 1500
municipalities, and thousands of other local units.
Political Parties
For the February 1986 presidential election, the parties that
took part were a 12-party coalition, the United Nationalist
Democratic Organization (Unido); the New Society Movement (KBL);
and the Philippine Democratic Party (PDP-Laban). The Unido and
PDP candidates were Corazon Aquino and Salvador Laurel, and the
New Society Movement supported Ferdinand Marcos and Arturo
Tolentino. In the elections of May 1987, opponents of Aquino
campaigned under the banner of the Grand Alliance for Democracy.
In the 1992 presidential elections, Fidel Valdez Ramos, who won
the election, was supported by the Lakas ng Edsa and the
National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD) political parties.
Health and Welfare
Most cities of the Philippines have modern health facilities,
which are usually lacking in rural areas. The country had about
51,400 physicians in the mid-1980s. The government manages a
retirement and life insurance program for employed people.
Defense
In the late 1980s the armed forces of the Philippines included
an army of 68,000 members, a navy of 28,000, and an air force of
16,000.
History
The first humans in the Philippine Islands are thought to have
come from China and the Malayan Archipelago some 250,000 years
ago, during the Ice Age, but few remains from that time have
been discovered. Afterward, other peoples migrated to the
islands, among them Negritos, who probably arrived about 25,000
years ago. A Mongoloid people from Southeast Asia followed about
10,000 years later. All are thought to have reached the islands
across a land bridge that no longer exists. Larger groups of
people from the regions of present-day China and Vietnam arrived
from about 7000 BC to 2000 BC. The largest migrations to the
islands, however, probably occurred after the 3rd century BC.
The last arrivals were people from the Malay Peninsula and the
Indonesian archipelago. These migrants brought with them their
iron tools and a technology that included glassmaking and
tie-and-dye weaving.
Cultural Influences
By the 5th century AD a new Filipino civilization had emerged
from the mixture of cultures. Traders from as far away as India
became frequent visitors to the islands. Competing influences
from the Middle East, India, and China brought many changes in
the economy and social life. Several primary industries—mining,
metallurgy, lumbering—came into being, and gold and coins were
introduced as media of exchange. By the 12th century, the
powerful Sumatra-based kingdom of Sri Vijaya had also extended
its considerable influence to the Philippines. Starting in the
13th century, Islam spread through the southern parts of the
archipelago and became firmly established there. The Chinese
Ming dynasty maintained tributary commercial and diplomatic
relations with the islands throughout the 15th century.
European Colonization
The islands were first seen by a European in March 1521, when
the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached them during
his attempted circumnavigation of the earth in the service of
Spain. The following month Magellan was killed on the island of
Mactan, near Cebu Island, when he tried to impose Christianity
and Spanish sovereignty on the local chief, Lapu-Lapu. The rout
of the Spanish ended the shadowy authority Magellan had sought
to establish. For his successful defiance of the Spanish,
Lapu-Lapu is a national folk hero.
The Spanish claim to the islands was disputed by Portugal, which
was already in possession of the nearby Moluccas and could
invoke the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, whereby the eastern
hemisphere was reserved to Portuguese colonization. In 1542,
however, a Spanish expedition reasserted the claims of Spain and
named the archipelago the Islas Filipinas, or Philippine
Islands, in honor of the royal heir, later King Philip II.
The first Spanish expedition to achieve lasting results was
headed by Miguel López de Legazpi, who landed in 1564. Legazpi
gradually advanced Spanish power over the islands, and in 1572
established Manila as the administrative center. Portuguese
threats were entirely eliminated after 1580, when King Philip
also became king of Portugal.
Conversion to Christianity
Representatives of various Roman Catholic religious orders, such
as the Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits, came
to the islands immediately after the successful Legazpi
expedition. Conversions were rapid, as coercion mixed with the
ceremonial splendor of the Roman Catholic rites aroused fear and
admiration in the local peoples. The work of the missionaries
was of utmost importance in establishing Spanish rule and was
comparably important to the Filipinos, united at last into a
fairly homogeneous people by a common religion. The monastic
orders eventually secured the possession of large tracts of
land, and they became wealthy and politically powerful.
The Spanish Challenged
Other European nations, by the end of the 16th century, began
attempts to acquire a foothold in the Philippines. English
mariners, including Sir Francis Drake in 1579, harassed Spanish
shipping. Later the Dutch, beginning to take an active
imperialistic role in the Orient, raided the islands and took
prizes not only of Spanish but also of Chinese, Portuguese, and
Japanese trading vessels. Dutch attacks gradually ceased after
1662, when the Netherlands occupied the rich Moluccas.
Upon the overthrow of Spanish rule in Mexico by the Mexican War
of Independence in 1821, the Philippines were put directly under
the administrative control of Madrid. Filipino nationalism,
however, was little in evidence at that time, and the islands
remained relatively quiet until the late 19th century.
Indigenous Resistance
In 1892 several secret societies were organized to act against
the Spanish authorities. The foremost of these was the
Philippine League, founded by Jose Rizal in 1891. Rizal, a
political moderate who, nevertheless, was executed in 1896 by
the Spanish authorities, became the martyred symbol of his
nation. Truly radical was the Katipunan (Tagalog for
“association”), established to secure complete independence by
open revolt. The existence of the Katipunan was disclosed to
Spanish officials on August 19, 1896, and on August 26, the
insurrectionists, no longer able to hide their activity, began
armed hostilities.
Under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo, chief of the rebel
forces, the insurgents were initially successful. Reinforcements
from Spain, however, substantially weakened the rebellion in
early 1897, and in August of that year Aguinaldo and the Spanish
governor-general signed the Pact of Biac-na-bató, guaranteeing
Spanish reforms within three years. The pact was conditional
upon the withdrawal of the Filipino leaders from the islands,
and Aguinaldo went to Hong Kong with his associates. Domestic
events, however, were soon overshadowed by the beginning of the
Spanish-American War on April 21, 1898. On May 1 the Asian
squadron of the United States Navy destroyed the Spanish fleet
situated in Manila Bay.
United States Rule
With U.S. help, Aguinaldo returned to the islands on May 19 and
proclaimed an independent Philippine republic. By the terms of
the Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898), however, Spain ceded
the entire archipelago to the United States in return for $20
million, and on December 21 the United States proclaimed the
establishment of U.S. military rule. Aguinaldo and his
associates refused to acknowledge U.S. domination. A provisional
Filipino government was established at Malolos, in central
Luzon, on January 23, 1899. Tension increased, and on February 4
hostilities began at Manila, when a Filipino patrol provoked the
fire of a U.S. sentry. The insurgents were driven back almost at
once by U.S. troops, and in November 1899, the Filipinos
resorted to guerrilla warfare. Aguinaldo was captured on March
23, 1901, and he swore an oath of allegiance to the United
States in April, but sporadic warfare continued for still
another year.
At the end of the insurrection in 1902, U.S. civil government
replaced the military authority, and on July 4, 1902, William
Howard Taft, later president of the United States, became the
first civil governor. The Philippine Bill of 1902 provided for
the establishment of a bicameral legislature, and five years
later, on October 16, 1907, the first session of the Philippine
assembly opened, with an elected lower house and the Philippine
Commission, previously established, as the upper house.
Shifting American Policies
U.S. politics soon began to influence the course of events in
the islands. Taft and his immediate successors were unwilling to
delegate much authority to the Filipinos. With the election of
Woodrow Wilson to the United States presidency in 1912, a new
policy was adopted. In 1916 the Jones Act instituted an elected
senate, and promised eventual independence. These moves,
however, were slowed with the election of Warren G. Harding as
president of the United States in 1920. Harding, in 1921,
appointed a commission to investigate the political and economic
situation in the islands. Shortly thereafter, General Leonard
Wood, head of the commission, was appointed governor-general. In
its report the commission declared that immediate independence
would be “a betrayal of the Philippine people.” Wood, basing his
policies on those delineated by the commission, found himself
bitterly opposed by the Filipino advocates of independence,
among whom were Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, president of the
Philippine Senate; Sergio Osmena, speaker of the House of
Representatives before 1922; and Manuel Roxas y Acuna, the
speaker after 1922.
The Commonwealth
With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 as president
of the United States, the official policy changed once again. On
January 13, 1933, the Congress of the United States passed the
Howes-Cutting Bill granting Philippine independence after 12
years, but reserving military and naval bases for the United
States and imposing tariffs and quotas on Philippine exports.
The bill was rejected by the Filipinos. Led by Quezon, the
Philippine Senate advocated a new bill and won the support of
President Roosevelt. The Tydings-McDuffie Bill, passed in 1934,
granted absolute and complete independence by 1946, and provided
for an interim commonwealth supervised by the United States, but
with a Philippine president elected by national vote and with a
constitution. Adopted in February 1935, the constitution was
approved by President Roosevelt and ratified by a plebiscite of
the Philippine people on May 14. The commonwealth was formally
established on November 15, with Quezon as the first president.
He was reelected in 1941.
World War II
Japanese planes attacked the Philippines on December 8, 1941
(December 7, U.S. time), and a large-scale invasion began two
weeks later. The subsequent Japanese occupation and warfare
caused widespread destruction in the islands. On October 20,
1944, U.S. forces returned to the Philippines under General
Douglas MacArthur, who had been military commander in the
islands before the Japanese attack. The Japanese officially
surrendered on September 2, 1945.
Quezon had died in 1944, and he was succeeded by Sergio Osmeña,
his vice president. The government returned to Manila in 1945,
and on April 23, 1946, Roxas was elected president, with Elpidio
Quirino as vice president. To help in the rehabilitation of the
islands, the United States established preferential trade
relations and awarded the islands several hundred million
dollars in war damage and rehabilitation aid.
Republic Established
The Republic of the Philippines was formally proclaimed on July
4, 1946. In addition to the problem of economic rehabilitation,
the new state was faced with internal strife. In central Luzon
the Hukbalahaps, or Huks, a Communist-led group of former
guerrillas against the Japanese, organized a rebel government
with its own military, civil, and administrative procedures.
Demanding collectivization of farmlands and the abolition of
tenant farming, the Huks became a powerful force in Luzon.
Philippine cooperation with the United States became the keynote
of the postwar policy. In 1947 the United States was awarded
military bases on a 99-year lease, shortened in 1959 to 25
years. A plebiscite in March 1948 ratified an amendment to the
Philippine constitution giving U.S. citizens economic rights
equal to those of Filipinos. Vice President Quirino, who became
acting president on the death, in April 1948, of President Roxas,
won a term on his own in 1949. The Huk rebellion continued to
gather momentum in 1949 and 1950.
The government signed a peace treaty with Japan in September
1951, but talks in early 1952 were soon suspended because of
Philippine demands for $8 billion in war damages. Pending
settlement of the issue, the Philippine legislature refused to
ratify the peace treaty.
Magsaysay's Term
In 1953 the government attempted unsuccessfully to end the Huk
rebellion by a peace parley with the rebel leaders. In the
presidential elections, held on November 10, former Defense
Minister Ramon Magsaysay won a decisive victory over the
incumbent Quirino, and because of his vigorous conduct of the
campaign against the Huks, the back of the rebellion was broken,
although it was not entirely suppressed.
Congress approved, on August 11, 1955, legislation empowering
President Magsaysay to break up large landed estates and
distribute the land to tenant farmers. On September 6 the
Philippines and the United States concluded a trade agreement on
private U.S. investment in Filipino enterprises.
In the mid-1950s the United States and the Philippines jointly
acknowledged Philippine ownership of U.S. military bases in the
islands. The Philippine Senate also ratified the peace treaty
with Japan and a Philippine-Japanese agreement providing for
$800 million in Japanese reparations.
Magsaysay died on March 17, 1957, in an airplane crash, and on
the next day Vice President Carlos P. Garcia was sworn in as
president. In June a statute outlawing the Communist party was
promulgated. The statute provided a maximum sentence of death
for active party membership but allowed surrender without
penalty within 30 days after promulgation. Some 1400 holdouts of
the Huk movement surrendered. Garcia was subsequently elected
president, and Diosdado Macapagal, an opposition Liberal party
candidate, was elected vice president. Macapagal was elected
president in 1961, but in the elections of 1965 he lost to the
Nationalist candidate, Ferdinand Marcos.
The Marcos Regime
Rapid development of the economy brought prosperity during
Marcos's first term, and he was easily reelected in 1969. His
second term, however, was troubled by civil unrest, caused
partly by his support of U.S. policy in Vietnam. By the early
1970s two separate forces, the Communist New People's Army and
the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist movement
in the south, were waging guerrilla war on the government. The
unrest and criminal depredations were cited as excuses for the
declaration of martial law in 1972. Congress was dissolved,
opposition leaders arrested, and strict censorship imposed.
Marcos thereafter ruled by decree.
A new constitution was promulgated in January 1973, but
transitional provisions attached to it gave Marcos continued
absolute powers, and elections were indefinitely postponed;
instead, the president sought popular sanction of his acts by
repeated referendums. Some relaxation was allowed in 1977 and
1978, but restiveness among the population, including the church
hierarchy, grew. In 1980 several opposition groups united to
demand an end to martial law, and urban guerrillas carried out a
series of bombings in Manila.
President Marcos ended martial law in 1981. Presidential
elections were held in June, and Marcos won a new six-year term.
Opposition to his rule, however, continued to grow. In 1983
opposition leader Benigno Aquino was murdered. A military
conspiracy was blamed for the murder, but the defendants were
acquitted later. Marcos called for presidential elections in
February 1986; his chief opponent was Aquino's widow, Corazon.
Reports that Marcos had won through fraud stirred such
opposition that he had to flee the country, settling temporarily
in Hawaii, and taking with him, according to widespread
accusations, undetermined amounts of illegally gained wealth.
Aquino became president and won the enactment of a new
constitution in February 1987. Although she won a vote of
confidence in legislative elections that May, military unrest,
coupled with popular discontent at the slow pace of economic
reform, continued to threaten her government. U.S. Air Force
jets assisted Philippine government forces in suppressing a coup
attempt in December 1989. In 1991 damage from the eruption of
Mount Pinatubo in central Luzon led the United States to abandon
nearby Clark Air Base; the Philippine senate then refused to
renew the lease on the lone remaining U.S. base, Subic Bay Naval
Station, which the United States closed in November 1992. Aquino
declined to run in the May 1992 presidential election; instead,
she endorsed the eventual winner, her former defense secretary,
Fidel Valdez Ramos.
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