The Philippines: from
Commonwealth
to the Present
By Apolinario Villalobos
From the Philippine Commonwealth that evolved into
Republican form, despite the many years that transpired, until the current
administration of Pnoy, the promises of presidential candidates did not change
their course which is supposedly towards the uplift of Filipinos and the
advancement of the country, but nothing happened of them. The graft and
corruption in the government just got worse, much more with poverty.
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.
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….
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, colonial attachment to the United States, and
weak leadership.
