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CHAPTER 3
The Council of State

Nevertheless, the governor-general continued to exercise fairly extensive powers that

included: general supervision and control of all of the departments and bureaus of
the government in the Philippine Islands as far as it is not inconsistent with the
provisions of this act, and shall be commander-in-chief of all locally created armed
forces and militia. This included the power: to increase the number, or abolish any, of
the executive departments, or make such changes in the names and duties thereof
as it may deem necessary, and to provide for the appointment and removal of the
heads of the executive departments by the governor-general.

With a strong executive in the person of the governor-general and a Nacionalista-

dominated legislature that likewise had extensive powers by 1916, the question
arose as to who or which party was actually leading the government in the
Philippines.

The council was a way for the Filipinos (notably the Nacionalistas who dominated the
legislature) to effect a kind of national leadership role for the government because
the governor general had been reduced to, in the words of Harrison himself, "a mere
figure-head" since key officials of the cabinet were now subject to the concurrence of
the Senate.

The power struggle of the 1920s within the Nationalist Party resulted in Osmeña
losing power and prominence to Quezon who was reelected Senate president while
the speakership went to his close ally, Manuel Roxas, who was also a Colectivista.
Effectively, the leadership of the party as well had now passed from Osmeña to
Quezon

The party quarrel, however, was short-lived. In April 1924, the two factions reunited
under the Partido Nacionalista Consolidado or Consolidated Nationalist Party.
Nevertheless, the leadership change had been effected with Quezon taking the helm
of both the party and government as Senate president

Minority Parties in the 1930s and the Partido Sakdalista

With the dissolution of the Democratic Party in 1932, there emerged a host of other
alternative (but less powerful) electoral parties that competed with the Nationalist
Party. These included the Partido Modernista or Modernist Party (established in
February 1932), the New Youth Party of the Philippines (established in September
1933), the Young Philippines Party (established in January 1934), and the Partido
Sakdalista (sakdal means to accuse or to put on trial). Of these minority political
parties, the Sakdalistas achieved a relative measure of success particularly in the
elections of 1934 where they "won three seats in the legislature, a provincial
governor, and a number of municipal officials."

During the 1934 general elections, they scored impressively (relative to other minority
parties) by gaining three seats in the House (that included one from Quezon's
province of Tayabas) along with a number of municipal and provincial offices. In early
May 1935, the Sakdalistas launched an uprising, which was quickly and violently
suppressed by the military and police.“ Ramos ended up being arrested but released
on bail, whereupon he established a new group—the Lapiang Ganap.
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Their life spans have been short-lived owing to their inability to muster sufficient
support from the ruling political elites and also to their inability to adapt to the
established institutional practices, especially electoral politics.

The End of Opposition Parties and the Rise of the Hegemonic Party

This situation assured the dominance of the Consolidated Nationalist Party under
Quezon and Osmeña and spelled the demise of the Democratic Party. The final nail
in the coffin was the election of 1931 in which the Nationalist Party won
overwhelmingly against the Democratic Party.

The dissolution of the Democratic Party in 1932 was not seen positively by the
majority party "since the disappearance of opposition from without, would mean an
inevitable opposition from within, not unlike the internal struggles for party leadership
a decade earlier."** For Lance, the absence of an opposition party invariably leads to
the "bifurcation" of the single dominant party." This meant that those who were
previously Democratas "simply joined the ranks of the Nacionalistas.

By the early 1930s, the question of party and government leadership was once again
raised within the Nationalist Party. Former Democratas also lost no time in taking one
of the two sides, which even further blurred the distinction between parties." The
approval of a law that would practically grant independence to the Philippines would
certainly bring much prestige and power to whoever could secure it.. With the HHC
Bill in his pocket, Quezon would be worried that such an accomplishment would bring
prestige to Osmeña who was the one who negotiated with the US for its passage.
Bringing back the TM Act (and having it approved by the Philippine legislature)
assured Quezon of his continued leadership not only of the party but of the national
government as well."

The elections of June 1934 gave the Antis a significant victory over the Pros with the
former having seventeen seats and the latter having only six in the Senate.
Nevertheless, the elections also reflected the partisan political groupings at the time
with 120 coming from the Antis as against sixty from the Pros (the rest were
independents)."

The average age of the delegates was around forty. many of the successful
businessmen and financiers were lawyers; the jurists were of course lawyers; these
particular educators from the University of the Philippines were lawyers, and the
experienced politicians were certainly convention reveals many of the delegates who
made speeches to be seasoned lawyers..

Despite the fact that the convention was led by a prominent advocate of Philippine
independence and nationalism, it cannot be discounted that the drafters of the
constitution were heavily influenced by Quezon, being that majority of its members
are composed of those associated with the Antis.

Those against the vote argued that women voting "would destroy the Filipino home"
while others said that women would be contaminated by vice once they participated
in politics through the vote. As a compromise solution, the convention instead
mandated a piebiscite by April 1937 in which the women themselves would decide on
whether or not they would prefer to be given the right to vote. Besides Quezon, there
were two new parties that had candidates for Commonwealth president-the National
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Socialist Party led by Emilio Aguinaldo and the reincarnated Republican Party led by
Gregorio Aglipay.

The program of the party in power during the 1935 elections was comprehensive
compared to the platforms of the other two parties. Interestingly enough, Osmeña
received more votes than Quezon (811,138) as against his closest rival from the
National Socialist Party who got only 51,590 votes.

In the ninety-eight-seat legislature, sixty-four seats went to the Quezon wing while
nineteen seats went to the Osmeña wing of the Nationalist Party.” At the time, the
Commonwealth constitution provided for a Assembly with ninety-eight seats.

First, the lack of a unified leadership strong and popular enough to challenge both
President Quezon and Vice President Osmena in any political contest;
Second, their inability to present any constructive program that would appeal much to
the people;

Third, they themselves had less in common and more in conflict;

Fourth, the people who psychologically and subconsciously could not have accepted
anyone other than either President Quezon or Vice President Osmeña for leadership,

And fifth, practically all the public money available for political purposes had always
been used only by the Nacionalistas.

Since Quezon had already served his first term as president for six years, he could
only serve his second term for two more years, i.e., from November 1941 to
November 1943.

Chapter 4

ELECTORAL AND PARTY POLITICS IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD

Jorge V. Tigno

The single most distinct feature of Philippine politics is that the two major parties are
quite identical- with respect to the social, occupational, and regional sources of their
support as well as to their policies. -Carl Lande

Introduction

After having gone through the period of American military and civilian occupation, the
Philippines was once again put to the test with its involvement in the Second World
War and the ensuing postwar reconstruction.

Party Politics During The World War II Interregnum

The outbreak of the war overshadowed both the constitutional amendments of 1940
and the reelection of Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmeña as Commonwealth
president and vice president, respectively, in November 1941. In the months before
the war, Quezon had successfully consolidated both the Nationalist Party and the
Commonwealth government virtually under his sole authority. What remained of the
opposition (from the Federal Party to the Progressivist Party to the Democratic Party)
would continually be too weak to challenge the dominance of the Nacionalistas. In
this sense, Quezon chose to side with the Americans (from whom he had gotten so
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much) rather than remain with the people and face the difficult choice of collaborating
with the Japanese.

Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos had been appointed by Quezon as acting president
of the Commonwealth government in the Philippines, with Manuel Roxas as
secretary to the president.' A strong sense of pragmatism pervaded the sentiments of
those who remained and cooperated with the Japanese military authorities.

The so-called collaborators, comprised mostly of Commonwealth-era leaders, would

provide continuity between the previous regime and the one that was dominated by
Japanese military authorities during the war. Upon ensuring control over much of the
country, the Japanese ordered the creation of an Executive Committee headed by
Jorge Vargas, former executive secretary to the president and the appointed mayor
of Manila at the time. Membership in the organization was understood by many at the
time to be a requirement for employment in government." Being the only party
organization that existed, the Kalibapi was all that stood between the people and the
Japanese military. Indeed, Liang argues that without the Kalibapi, "the game with the
Japanese would have been all the more difficult if not utterly impossible."" Moreover,
the association was seen as.

The Japanese then set about planning for the eventual declaration of independence
of the Philippines (perhaps in an effort to convince the people of its noble intentions)
and its subsequent support of the former's war effort against the Americans. Within
two months, the commission was able to draft the constitution and subsequently had
it approved by a 117- member General Assembly (all of whom were handpicked by
the Japanese military authorities). Despite his acquiescence, Laurel was still seen by
the Japanese as belligerent." In response to Laurel's apparent lack of enthusiasm to
pursue Japan's wartime agenda, the Japanese organized the Kalipunang
Makabayan ng mga Pilipino (MakapilI) or the Patriotic League of Filipinos on
December 8, 1944 (not coincidentally, the third anniversary of the attack on Pearl
Harbor)." .

Under the leadership of Benigno Ramos (also the founder of the Sakdal Party of the
1930s), the Makapili was used by the Japanese as a hedge against Laurel and the
republican government. Ramos was said to have declared that "the Makapili would
be independent of the Republic,' subject only to the authority of the Japanese high
command." When American forces had landed on the islands, "the Japanese
decided that the Makapili be given free hand in running the government in lieu of the
'Republic' for the benefit and aid of the retreating Japanese forces."

During the war, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) continued the
resistance against the Japanese. After it had gone into exile in the US, the
Commonwealth government under Quezon was faced with the problem of who would
constitutionally succeed the president after his second term expired in November
1943.

In early 1943, Quezon wrote President Roosevelt so that the former might continue
serving as Commonwealth president without being elected for the duration of the
war. land that the Filipino peoplel would be at a loss upon learning as to how he
could have been invited to come to Washington as the head of the Commonwealth
government and then dropped all of a sudden just because of the constitutional
limitation of the presidential term to eight consecutive years."

Shortly after the appeal was made (with the concurrence of Quezon's cabinet and
vice president), the US Congress passed a joint resolution (which was subsequently
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approved by Roosevelt) that effectively allowed Quezon to continue in office for the
duration of the war." All was set for Quezon to succeed himself as president of the
Commonwealth.

It may be said that Philippine party politics during the Second World War, while
having had the makings of becoming mass-oriented, had been largely proscribed by
Japanese military objectives.