READING OF THE 

     
PHILIPPINE HISTORY    

TOPIC NO.17
*THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION*
*RESISTANCE AND RESTORATION*
*THE SECOND PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC*
*JAPANESE MARTIAL LAW*

Martinez, Crislyn Irah

Missiona, Marjorie Joy
 THE
JAPANESE
OCCUPATION
BACKGROUND
          JAPANESE
         OCCUPATION

--- occurred between 1942 and 1945,

when Imperial Japan occupied the
Commonwealth of the Philippines during
Word War II.
          DECEMBER 8, 1941

• Japan launched a surprised attack on the

Philippines, just ten hours after the attack on
Pearl Harbor. Initial aerial bombardment was
followed by landings of ground troops both
North and South of Manila.
 GENERAL DOUGLAS
MACARTHUR

•  Led the defending Philippine and United States 

soldiers; had been recalled to active duty in the US
Army, earlier in the year; And was designated
commander of the United States Armed Forces in the
Asia-Pacific region.
 GENERAL DOUGLAS
MACARTHUR

•  The aircraft of his command were destroyed; the 

naval forces were ordered to leave; and because
of the circumstances in the Pacific region, 
reinforcement and resupply of his ground forces
were impossible.
             JANUARY 2, 1942

•   The Japanese occupied Manila, which had been

declared an open city to prevent destruction.

• Under the pressure of superior forces, 

the defending forces withdrew to the Bataan
Peninsula and to the Island of Corregidor at 
the entrance to Manila Bay.
 THE PHILIPPINE
      DEFENSE

• Continued until the final surrender of U.S.

-Philippine forces on the Bataan Peninsula in April
1942 and on Corregidor in May.

•   Most of the 80,000 prisoners of war captured

by the Japanese at Bataan were forced to
undertake the infamous “Bataan Death March” to
a prison camp 105 kilometers to the north.
 THE PHILIPPINE
      DEFENSE

•   Thousands of men, weakend by disease and

malnutrition; and treated harshly by their captors,
died before reaching their destination. Manuel L.
Quezon and Sergio Osmena had accompanied the
troops to Corregidor and later left for the United
States, where they set up a government-in-exile.
MacArthur was ordered to Australia, where he
started to plan for a return to the Philippines.
The Occupation
   THE OCCUPATION

• The Japanese military authorities

immediately began organizing a new
government structure in the Philippines.

•   Although the Japanese had promised

independence for the Islands after occupation,
they initially organized a Council of State
through which they directed civil affairs until
October 1943, when they declared the
Philippines an independent republic.
   THE OCCUPATION

•   The puppet republic was headed by

President Jose P. Laurel. Philippine
collaboration in puppet government began
under Jorge B. Vargas, who was originally
appointed by Manuel L. Quezon as the mayor
of City of Greater Manila before Quezon
departed Manila. The only political party
allowed during the occupation was the 
Japanese-organized KALIBAPI.
   THE OCCUPATION

•   During the occupation, most Filipinos

remained loyal to the United States,
and was crimes committed by forces of
the Empire of Japan against surrendered
Allied forces and civillians were
documented.
   THE OCCUPATION

•   Throughout the Philippines more than

a thousand Filipinos, composed of
mothers, girls and gay men, some aged at
10, were imprisoned, forcibly taken as
“comfort women”, and kept in sexual
slavery for Japanese military personnel
during the occupation. 
   THE OCCUPATION

•   Each of the Japanese military

installations in the Philippines during the
occupation had a location where the
women were held, which they called a
“comfort station”. One such place where
these women were imprisoned was
Bahay na Pula. 
Resistance
and
Restoration
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   Japanese occupation of the Philippines was
opposed by active and successful underground
and guerrilla activity that increased over the
years. 

•   Opposing these guerrillas were a Japanese-

formed Bureau of Constabulary (later taking the
name of the old Constabulary during the Second
Republic), Kempeitai, and the Makapili. 
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   Guerrilla is a form of irregular warfare in which small
groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel,
and armed civilians.
•   Kempeitai translated  to Military Police Corps, served
as the military police of the Japanese Army from 1881 –
1945. 
•   Makapili or Makabayang Katipunan ng mga Pilipino
(Patriotic Association of Filipinos), was a militant group
formed in the Philippines in December 8, 1944 during
World War II to give military aid to the Imperial 
   Japanese Army.
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   Postwar investigations showed that about
26,000 people were in guerilla organizations
and that members of the anti-Japanese
underground were even more numerous.

•   Such was their effectiveness that by the end

of the war, Japan controlled only 12 out of 48
provinces.
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   The Philippine guerrilla movement continued
to grow, in spite of Japanese campaigne against
them. Throughout Luzon and the southern
Islands, Filipinos joined various groups and
vowed to fight the Japanese. 
•   General MacArthur formed a clandestine
operation to support the guerrillas. He had
Lieutenant Commander Charles “Chick” Parsons
smuggle guns, radios and supplies to them
by submarine.
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   Guerrilla forces formed throughout the
archipelago, ranging from groups of U.S. Armed
Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) forces who
refused to surrender to local militia initially
organized to combat banditry.  

•   Several Islands in the Visayas region had

guerrilla forces led by Filipino officers, such as
Colonel Macarió Peralta in Panay and Major  
Ismael Ingen in Bohol. 
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   The Island of Mindanao, being farthest from the
center of Japanese occupation, had 38,000 guerrillas
who were eventually consolidated under the
command of American civil engineer Colonel Wendell
Fertig.

•   Fertig’s guerillas included many American and

Filipino troops who had been part of the force on
Mindanao under Major General William F. Sharp.
When Wainwright had ordered Sharp’s forces to
surrender, Sharp considered compelled to 
obey this order.
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   Many of the American and Filipino officers
refused to surrender, since they reasoned that
Wainwright, now a prisoner who could be
considered under duress, had no authority to
issue orders to sharp.

•   For several reasons it was unknown how many

did not surrender, although probably around 100
to 200 Americans ended up with Fertig's
guerrillas. 
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   The names of new Filipino recruits were
purposefully left off the lists of men to be
surrendered. Other troops died for various reasons
after getting away and others left Mindanao
entirely.
•   One resistance group in the central Luzon area
was known as the Hukbalahap (Hukbo ng Bayan
Laban sa Hapon), or the peoples Anti-Japanese
Army, organize in early 1942 under the leadership 
of Luis Taruc, a communist party member since
1939.
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   However, guerilla activities on Luzon were
hampered due to the heavy Japanese presence and
infighting between the various groups, including
Hukbalahap troops attacking American- led by
guerilla units. 
•   Lack of equipment, difficult terrain and
undeveloped infrastructure made coordination
among these groups nearly impossible, and for
several months in 1942, all contact was lost with
Philippine resistance forces.
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•   Communication were restored in November 1942
when the reformed Philippine 61st Division on Panay
Island, led by Colonel Macario Peralta, was able to
established radio contact with the USAFFE command
in Australia.
•   By the end of World War Two, some 277 separate
guerrilla units, made up of some 260,715 individuals,
fought in the resistance movement. Some guerrilla
units would later be reorganized and equipped as
units of the Philippine Army and Constabulary.
     RESISTANCE AND
       RESTORATION
•  Others were combined units of
Americans, military and civilian, who had
never surrendered or had escaped after
surrendering,Filipinos, Christians and
Moros who had initially formed their own
small units.
End of the 
Occupation
  END OF OCCUPATION   
•  General Tomoyuki Yamashita surrenders to 
the Filipino soldiers and guerrillas in the
presence of Generals Jonathan Wainwright and
Arthur Percival.

•     The campaign to liberate the Philippines was

the bloodiest campaign of the Pacific War. The
kamikaze corps was created specifically to
defend the Japanese occupation of the
Philippines. 
  END OF OCCUPATION   
•    The guerrillas averted a disaster when they
revealed the plans of Japanese General Yamashita
to trap MacArthur's army. They led the liberating
soldiers to the Japanese fortifications.

•   Filipino guerrillas played a large role in the

liberation of the Philippines during World War II.
Fighting was fierce, particularly in the mountains
of northern Luzon, where Japanese troops had
retreated, and in Manila, where they put up
    a last-ditch resistance. 
 END OF OCCUPATION   
•    One guerrilla unit came to substitute for a
regularly constituted American division, and
other guerrilla forces of battalion and regimental
size supplemented the efforts of the U.S. Army
units.

•    An estimated 527,000 Filipinos, both military

and civilians, had been killed from all causes of
these between 131,000 and 164,000 were killed
in 72 war crime events.
  END OF OCCUPATION   
•    The Philippine population decreased
continuously for the next 5 years due to the
spread of diseases and the lack of basic
needs. 

•    This was far from the Filipino lifestyle

prior to the war when the country had
been the second richest in Asia after Japan.
THE SECOND
PHILIPPINE
REPUBLIC
   THE SECOND
  PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
• was established during the Japanese occupation 
of the Philippines. -At the outset of the occupation,
the Japanese government established a military
administration over the Philippines, as well as the
Philippine Executive Commission, composed of
several pre-war Filipino political leaders. 
   THE SECOND
  PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
• The KALIBAPI (Kapisanan ng Paglilingkod sa Bagong
Pilipinas) Association for Service to the New
Philippines was organized and designed to be the sole and
exclusive political organization in the Philippines.

•  KALIBAPI means, a Fascist Filipino political party that

served as the sole party of state during the Japanese
occupation. 

• The KALIBAPI aims to aid and guide the Filipinos in 

   the performance of this particular duty.
   THE SECOND
  PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
•  On June 16, 1943 Premier Hideki Tojo promised
independence to the Philippines.

• The KALIBAPI would then formed the Preparatory

Committee on Philippine Independence (PCPI), which
was tasked with drafting a new Constitution.

• The new Constitution was approved by the PCPI on

September 4, 1943 and ratified by the KALIBAPI on   
  September 7, 1943.
   THE SECOND
  PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
• The KALIBAPI then proceeded to elect part of the
new National Assembly, which also included appointed
members; in turn, the National Assembly elected
its Speaker and then elected Jose P. Laurel as President.

• On October 14, 1943, in ceremonies in front of the

Legislative Building in Manila, the new Republic was
inaugurated, and Jose P. Laurel, the Chairman of the
Preparatory Committee, assumed office as President.
 THE 
JAPANESE
MARTIAL 
LAW
 JAPANESE             
MARTIAL LAW         
• On September 21, 1944, President Laurel 
proclaimed martial law in the Philippines (it came
into effect on September 22).

• On September 23, 1944, Laurel proclaimed that 

the Philippines was “in a state of war” with the
Allied Powers—but this was never ratified by the
National Assembly.
 JAPANESE             
MARTIAL LAW         
• In large part, Japanese dissapointment with 
Laurel, led to the Republic under Laurel being
superseded by the Makapili, organized in December
1944 to more militantly oppose for the returning
American forces and Filipino guerrillas.

• The Japanese brought the Laurel government to 

Baguio also in December 1944, and a small remnant
of that government was taken to Tokyo in March     
  1945.
 JAPANESE             
MARTIAL LAW         
•  Laurel formally dissolved the Second Republic 
on August 17, 1945, two days after Japan surrendered
to the Allies. 

•  Commonwealth government was restored on 

Philippine soil on October 23, 1944, Field Marshal
Douglas MacArthur as military commander had issued
a proclamation nullifying all acts of the Philippine
Executive Commission and the Second Republic.
 JAPANESE             
MARTIAL LAW         
• The Supreme Court of the Philippines reiterated 
this nullification in a decision (G.R. No. L-5) on
September 17, 1945 (and subsequent decisions), but
pointed out President Osmeña recognized the validity
of some judicial acts of a non-political nature.

• The Supreme Court categorized the Philippine 

Executive Commission and the Second Republic as a de
facto (actual, whether by right or not) government, in
contrast to the de jure (rightful, or legitimate)
   status of   the Commonwealth government.
 JAPANESE             
MARTIAL LAW         
• While this means no laws or regulations from 
the Second Republic are legally recognized, President
Laurel has been included in the roster of Philippine
presidents since the 1960s.

•  Many officials who served in the Philippine 

Executive Commission, the Second Republic and its
various agencies were charged with treason but
received an amnesty from President Manuel Roxas
  on January 28, 1948.
THANK
YOU!!!
REFERENCES:

• Japanese occupation of the Philippines - Wikipe

dia

• Second Philippine Republic | Presidential Muse

um and Library (malacanang.gov.ph)