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The Philippines: from Commonwealth to the Present
Posted on Friday 6 December 2019
THE PHILIPPINES: from Commonwealth
to the Present
By Apolinario Villalobos
to the Present
By Apolinario Villalobos
From the Philippine Commonwealth that evolved into Republican
form, despite the many years that transpired, the promises of presidential
candidates did not change their course which is supposedly towards the uplift
of Filipinos and the advancement of the country. The graft and corruption in
the government just got worse, much more with poverty which is very evident
despite the "encouraging" statistics. Prices of commodities are
sky-high and jobs are on contract. Today, only Chinese businesses are
flourishing in the country.
The Commonwealth government under Quezon was cut short by the
WWII. But during his time, the Americans already observed the culture-based
administration of the government which was hinged on “gratitude”,
“brotherhood”, and “kinship”. The Post-war era of independence saw the granting
of independence to the country, transforming the Commonwealth to Republican
under Osmeῆa. As the country was still reeling from the effects of the WWII, it
was in total disarray. This situation bred profiteering on the part of the
businessmen and graft on the part of the government officials, resulting to the
much dissatisfaction and dismay of the masses.
The dissatisfaction of the Filipinos was perceived as an
opportunity of enterprising and ambitious politicians for grabbing the power
from Osmeῆa. As a last effort, Osmeῆa reorganized the government by signing an
Executive Order in March 7, 1945, restoring the Executive departments. Unfortunately,
Osmeῆa was perceived as lame by the then, Governor-General, MacArthur, who
coerced him to convene Congress. Many were against the convening of Congress,
then, as it might fall into the hands of the “collaborators” of the WWII, one
of whom was Manuel Roxas who fortunately, despite his being a former
“collaborator”, was favored by the support of MacArthur.
Among those that the newly-convened Congress approved was a
three-year back pay to its members, which was equivalent to the three-year
Japanese occupation of the country. It was a telling premonition of more
self-serving Congressional actions to happen. The employees followed suit with
their own demand for similar back pay covering the same period but was not
granted due to unavailability of fund. The cunning Roxas perceived the
dissatisfaction of the employees as an opportunity to back up his bid for
presidency. He authored the Back Pay Law which was eventually passed in 1948.
It gave three years back pay to all pre-war government employees in 1958, after
a ten-year period during which the government would have already saved enough
funds.
The country did not gain much from Roxas when he held the reins
of the government. Graft and corruption still proliferated. But his prominence
became more pronounced when the provision on Parity Rights of the Americans was
inserted in the Philippine Constitution. Hours before he died, he again
committed the loyalty of the Filipinos to the Americans. His true color as
“collaborator”, first with the Japanese during WWII, and later, with the
Americans, surfaced till the time he drew his last breath.
Quirino took over the presidency when Roxas died. He promised
“government reorganization to achieve efficiency at all levels of the
bureaucracy, immediate increased production to give employment to thousands of
idle laborers, vigorous and honest enforcement of tax laws, the preservation of
the national integrity, and continued friendly relations with the countries of
the world”. The Hukbalahap movement just became active because of unresolved
agrarian issues during Quirino’s administration, and due to the worsening
corruption. He wisely gave an all-out support to his Secretary of National
Defense, Ramon Magsaysay who was perceived as honest and with unquestionable
ability to lead, who somehow mellowed the administration’s strong image of
ineptness . The charisma of Magsaysay brought him nearer to the masses.
When Magsaysay became president with the help of the CIA, he
unfortunately, went beyond the tolerable treatment of the masses. His pampering
of the masses, made them over-dependent to the government, resulting to their
idleness. He went to the extent of opening the gates of Malacaῆan to them,
practically resulting to the presidential official residence’s transformation
into a “park”. During his term, he promised, the improvement of the land tenure
system with land resettlements, easy-term credit for the peasants, intense
community development founded on self-help. To support those promises, the
National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) in Palawan was
established in 1955, as well as, the Farmers’ Cooperative and Marketing
Association (FACOMA). It was also during this time that Visayans and those from
the north, rushed to Mindanao to clear cogon-covered fields. To date, among the
results of the resettlement effort were General Santos and Koronadal cities.
General Santos City was formerly, “Dadiangas”, while Koronadal City was
formerly, “Marbel”.
Magsaysay realizing his mistakes for pampering the common “tao”, was reported to have lost his temper several times, one of which was when he “exploded”, saying: “the people want me to do everything for them!”. His ten-point program was never realized when he met an accident while on board the presidential airplane in March 17, 1957 on the way back to Manila from a speaking engagement in Cebu. The ill-fated airplane was later found on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu. Vice-President Carlos P. Garcia took over the presidency with the demise of Magsaysay. It was alleged that Magsaysay did a corrupt act by posting newspapermen in important government offices, as well as, extended to them favors that not even government officials were lucky to have a share.
Magsaysay realizing his mistakes for pampering the common “tao”, was reported to have lost his temper several times, one of which was when he “exploded”, saying: “the people want me to do everything for them!”. His ten-point program was never realized when he met an accident while on board the presidential airplane in March 17, 1957 on the way back to Manila from a speaking engagement in Cebu. The ill-fated airplane was later found on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu. Vice-President Carlos P. Garcia took over the presidency with the demise of Magsaysay. It was alleged that Magsaysay did a corrupt act by posting newspapermen in important government offices, as well as, extended to them favors that not even government officials were lucky to have a share.
The presidential election in 1957 confirmed the presidency of
Garcia, although, the said process was said to be the noisiest and most
expensive in the country’s history until the time. It was during this time that
the Catholic Church was dragged into the chaos, which however, proved that the
votes of the Catholics were not reliably solid. Diosdado Macapagal who belonged
to the opposition won as Vice-President.
During his term, Garcia promised: “to complete the Philippine
economic independence through the adoption of the Filipino First Policy….; to
establish Filipino dignity as a free people by dealing with foreign powers on
terms of sovereign equality; to achieve a balanced economy by providing equal
impetus to agriculture and industry; to promote social justice and the general
welfare of the masses, and; to minimize and, if possible, to eradicate graft
and corruption”. Just like his predecessors however, Garcia also failed, as the
poor not only multiplied but continued to suffer from poverty, while the
economy was at its worse.
The people’s disillusionment of how Garcia administered the government,
steered Diosdado Macapagal towards victory when he made a bid for presidency.
Graft and corruption were the focus of all issues against Garcia which
Macapagal used to his advantage. When he won, Macapagal promised: “the
immediate restoration of economic stability, alleviate the common man’s plight,
and establish a dynamic basis for future growth.” He added to strengthen the
deteriorating moral fiber of the people. Unfortunately, a few months after he
was sworn in, his province mates indulged in extravagant celebrations, with him
and his family at the center. Such flagrant show of opulence went on which
slighted the Filipinos much. Macapagal will however, be remembered with his
nationalistic decision to move the Philippine Independence Day from July 4 to
June 12, and the Land Reform Code which unfortunately was not implemented
effectively.
The nepotism, graft and corruption issues were used by Ferdinand
Marcos against Macapagal when the former ran for president. The Filipinos, for
having no choice and who had been clamoring for change, voted for him.
Among the presidents, it was Marcos who openly admitted that the
country was in a dire crisis situation, and to arrest the further deterioration
of the country, he promised: “self-sufficiency in the production of rice and
the diversification of crops, implementation of the land reform program, and
intensification of the community development program. During his time, the
country experienced a phenomenal infra-structure boom, to support the drummed
up tourism and industrialization efforts of the government. Not satisfied with
the Constitution-mandated tenure, he declared Martial Law, to supposedly
prevent the Communist take-over of the country. The drastic move was accepted
for several years by the Filipinos, until the issue on the murder of Benigno
Aquino erupted.
The People Power Revolution in 1987 toppled the dictatorship of
Marcos and installed Cory Aquino as President. Issues that her administration
faced were recovery of the people’s money, replenishment of the dried up
budget, and corruption that was not totally swept out of the system. Her tenure
did not accomplish much for the recovery of the country until she was taken
over by Fidel Ramos during whose administration there was a spree of privatization
and selling of government properties. As the Filipinos got tired of the same
economic and political mishaps of presidents, they gave a chance to Joseph
Estrada from the movie world, and who promised “heaven”, and something
“new”…indeed, corruption with a “new” face, that just got worse. The recurring
despair of the people brought Gloria Arroyo to power. Despair again made the
Filipinos look for another leader, and this time they bit the bait dangled by
the old-time crooks who used the “martyrdom” of Ninoy Aquino to push the
presidency of Pnoy Aquino…. TODAY, RODRIGO DUTERTE IS AT THE HELM OF THE
COUNTRY.
The rest is history, literally, because as stated in the pages
of the Philippine history, the same problems are the issues today– graft,
corruption, nepotism, poverty. But many Filipinos are keeping their fingers
crossed that President Duterte who was catapulted to power due to the
aggravating drug problem in the country, would make true his promise of
eliminating even the graft and corruption in the government.
