Why America Colonized The Philippines, Then Stalled Its Independence

In a unique take on this topic, Carmina and Patch tackle the Philippines' quest for independence from the vantagepoint of America’s political landscape. Much tea was spilled ala-TMZ to explain the long and winding road towards the Philippines’ ultimate freedom from the Americans, including commentary by Mark Twain (yes, THAT Mark Twain) on the matter.

To learn more: US Occupation in the Philippines: the Disconnect between Colonizer and Colonized, and a Different Type of Resistance, A Brief History of America: Contradictions & Divisions in the United States from the Revolutionary Era to the Present Day, Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built America's First Pacific Century, American Interests and Philippine Independence, Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dream, In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines, and Liberal, Imperial, and Economic Motivation of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Philippines 1898-1946.

Relisten to Season 1, Episode 16: “August 23, June 12, or July 4? The Philippine Independence Saga” to discover why June 12 is the “official” Philippine Independence Day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you listen.

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Transcript

Carmina: 0:06

Welcome to FilTrip, a podcast where we explore everything fun, weird, and in between about the Philippines. And now a quick shout out. Check out Manila Candle. Manila Candle features Filipino inspired scents like Tagaytay, Palawan, Ube Halaya and Buco and Mango. They also have fun ones like Ay Nako and Bahala Ka Sa Buhay Mo.

Patch: 0:35

Enjoy their car fresheners, wax melts and merchandise to visit manilacandle.com and take a trip to the Philippines through their scents.

Carmina: 0:46

Back to our show.

Patch: 0:48

Today's trip is a round trip when we talk about historical facts and things that connect us back. In this episode, we'll be discussing Philippine independence from the Americans.

Carmina: 1:01

Patch we should tell our listeners that we decided to tackle this independence episode differently from the last one by concentrating on the period during the Philippines American colonization. More specifically, we wondered what could have been happening in America that motivated them to colonize the Philippines.

Patch: 1:21

And to eventually give us, or grant us our independence.

Carmina: 1:26

Um, spoiler alert, I have a feeling that it wasn't the entirely voluntary <laugh>, but we'll get there. So I guess we should start by what sparked it all. And to do that, we have to go outside of both America and the Philippines. In 1895, the Cuban revolution against Spain began, and just to refresh everybody's memories, Spain was already many centuries in its colonization of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. So Cuba was of particular interest to the US because it was very close geographically, and they had also established a lot of business there. They bought large pieces of land, and they had about $50 million invested in it by this time. And the profit they were getting were more than twice that. Also, by this time, the US was also in what was called the Guilded age. It was called that because everything seemed to glitter on the surface, but actually only upper class were enjoying wealth while a larger lower class were poor and oppressed. And there were no labor laws at that time. So there was a lot of mistreatment and inequality. To top it all off politically, the US government was very corrupt, and the Republican Party, who previously supported better conditions for slaves during the Civil War, abandoned the cause, and they became more pro-business. Majority of the wealthy believed they were superior, and it gave rise to what was called social Darwinism. It was even reflected in the loss during that time. Just to give you an example, it was during this period when the Chinese exclusion Act of 1882 was enacted. It was the first of immigration restriction laws specifically targeting the Chinese, and provided an absolute 10 year ban on Chinese laborers immigrating to the us , particularly California. The das Act of 1887 usurped land from the Native Americans and Plessy versus Ferguson in 1896 started down the road of legal segregation.

Patch: 3:47

So obviously it was mostly the agricultural iinterest in Cuba and the ownership of Cuba that had everything to do with slave territory.

Carmina: 3:58

And then elsewhere in the world and the Philippines. In 1896, Bonifacio and the Katipuneros started the Philippine revolution against Spain. And as we discussed in previous episodes, Bonifacio was assassinated a year later in 1897 by Aguinaldo who took over the revolutionary effort. So Patch, 1895 was the Cuban Revolution, but the Spanish American War did not start until 1898, who when the USS Maine sank in Havana Harbor on February 15th, 1898, the president, president McKinley demanded that Spain withdraw from Cuba. Of course, the Spanish didn't like that, so they declared war on the US, and the US of course, returned the favor.

Patch: 4:46

You know what Carmina, I don't know if we mentioned what exactly was the sinking of the USS Maine? So, USS Maine was a battleship that was sent to Havana in January, 1898 to protect American interests during the longstanding revolt of the Cubans against the Spanish government. In the evening of February 15th, 1898, Maine sank when her forward gunpowder magazines exploded, and nearly three quarters of the battle ship's crew died as a result of the explosion.

Carmina: 5:21

So the implication Patch is that the explosion was somehow caused by the Spanish?

Patch: 5:26

Yes, that's the popular opinion.

Carmina: 5:28

From that date. It took only nine months for the whole Spanish American War to be over. I didn't realize that it was short.

Patch: 5:37

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> ,

Carmina: 5:37

And that's when the Philippines and the US became historically intertwined. And the vehicle by which that was done was the Paris Peace Treaty that was signed on December 10th, 1898. It established the independence of Cuba. It seeded Puerto Rico and Guam to the US and it sold the Philippines for a whopping

Patch: 6:01

$20 million

Carmina: 6:03

Which was very cheap compared to all of the benefits that the US would've gained. This is another context that I didn't have before, which might also explain why the Americans were really trying to recoup, because they spent 250 million and 3000 lives were lost.

Patch: 6:24

So wait, in 1898, that was when Emilio Aguinaldo assembled the Malolos Congress in Bulacan that declared their independence. Right?

Carmina: 6:34

Right. He refused to acknowledge this agreement. Right. And as we discussed in previous episodes, Aguinaldo was cooperating with the Americans because he thought that they supported his cause for Philippine independence, not realizing that they had other secret plans for the country. So I can just imagine his reaction when he realized that the Paris Peace Treaty was signed and his fight for independence from Spain would now have to be a fight for independence against the United States.

Patch: 7:06

I'm sure the feeling of betrayal was pretty devastating to him.

Carmina: 7:10

Yeah. And I can just imagine and Tela Novela fashion, the background music that would've been playing <laugh> the moment he realized that he was had. So the next significant event that happened was on February 4th, 1899. By this time, the US, because they were right, quote unquote , helping the Filipino revolutionaries were already stationed all throughout the Philippines, a Nebraska volunteer soldier shot a Filipino soldier, some say because of a misunderstanding. Others say, unprovoked. This event definitely accelerated the beginning of the Philippine American War.

Patch: 7:52

So Carmina, what was happening in the US during that time,

Carmina: 7:56

A year later in November, 1900, there was a US presidential election. By this time, the casualties were increasing and the American public was beginning to be sensitized to the war. The cost and abuses by US soldiers in the Philippines were constantly front page news, and it was being reported so much that political strategists on both sides were convinced that the Philippines would be a dominating issue in their campaigns. But thanks to a concerted effort of censorship and political maneuvering, William McKinley was elected to a second term, and his vice president was Theodore Roosevelt. There's one interesting factoid that I found, Patch, and it has to do with Mark Twain .

Patch: 8:40

He made a comment, right? Yes.

Carmina: 8:44

A scorching comment. Apparently, I didn't even imagine that Mark Twain would've commented on the Philippines.

Patch: 8:52

So one of the quotes of Mark Twain regarding the Treaty of Paris, "I have read carefully the Treaty of Paris, and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem . And so I am an anti-imperialist, I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."

Carmina: 9:19

I know that the context of how and when he said that was dark, but I just find it so cool, <laugh> that Mark Twain <laugh> even knew where the Philippines was <laugh> .

Patch: 9:30

Very impressive.

Carmina: 9:32

Yeah. So it really highlights how important we were to the future of the United States. And this next fact illustrates that on September 14th, 1901, McKinley was assassinated, and Roosevelt became president. When he took his oath, he pledged to quote, continue absolutely unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace, prosperity, and honor of our beloved country. And a lot of insiders said that he viewed America's control over the Philippines as critical to achieve those objectives.

Patch: 10:10

So Carmina, you're going to talk about the Philippine Organic Act, which was a law that the government enacted in 1902. What kind of tea do you have for us Carmina <laugh>,

Carmina: 10:22

In an age where reality TV was not yet a thing? I'm actually surprised that I even found this tea <laugh> , but here it is. So as I said, right, more and more news of atrocities continued to be publicized in the US even after Roosevelt became president in 1901. And Roosevelt was trying his best to distract from this with other national news and initiatives. But there came a time when he couldn't overcome it because there were just so many formal investigations and court marshals going on . There was a Senate hearing that was causing a lot of uproar about military abuses and early 1902, and it was apparently, again, front page news across the country, constantly on top of it. The US was also sort of becoming a joke around the world, and people were calling the US hypocritical, because if you remember, when they gained independence from the British, they really touted themselves as stewards of democracy. The backdrop was another upcoming presidential and congressional election. So it was crucial for Roosevelt to swing the public back to him. He apparently made a consequential speech on May 30th, 1902 at the Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. And there he took the opportunity to criticize his political opponents for their own hypocrisies. For example, he highlighted abuses towards black Americans. He painted the soldiers' conduct in the Philippines as a necessary part of war, and basically turned the tables around by saying that Filipinos themselves have carried out a lot of cruelties against American soldiers. And this was the most crucial part Patch that really swung the public back to him. He credited the American soldiers in the Philippines for propelling America towards global greatness, and basically chastised the American public by saying that the public repaid all this with criticism. On top of it, he kind of made , um, I don't even know if you call it a white lie, but he declared the war almost over and somehow was able to paint the war as a favor for the welfare of Filipino citizens. So this Philippines organic law of 1902 also allowed him to proclaim that the Philippine American War was over in July of 1902. It legitimized his characterization of the conflict as an insurgency instead of what it really was, which was a struggle for independence that began under Spain. And because of the US interference is actually a continuation for that struggle for independence. The act also gave the US broad control over how to suppress it.

Patch: 13:22

We've said it before, but it's worth stating again. The Americans lost 4,300 soldiers, about 20,000 Filipino soldiers died, and was believed to be 200,000 Filipino civilians. And I found this really interesting factoid, the number of Carabaos, which is the water buffalo that Filipinos relied on for planting and harvesting rice, which is our staple food, shrank by 90% during the war.

Carmina: 13:54

At first, I was kind of chuckling about the Carabaos, but then now realizing how vital that was to our way of life for survival

Patch: 14:04

And also the microeconomics, right?

Carmina: 14:07

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Patch: 14:08

Not only for personal consumption.

Carmina: 14:10

I found a quote in a book called "Honor In The Dust," that will link in our show notes, and it's by a congressman who returned from a tour in Northern Luzon, during the Philippine American War. This is what he said, quote , "the good Lord in heaven only knows the number of Filipinos that were put under the ground. Our soldiers took no prisoners. They kept no records. They simply swept the country. And were reverend , whenever they could get hold of a Filipino, they killed him."

Patch: 14:40

That's so sad.

Carmina: 14:42

It is, right? So just as in the Spanish American War, this costs the US a lot of money. <laugh> . And to put it in numbers, it was about 600 million, which is equivalent to about 4.5 billion today. So when I saw that number, again, what crossed my mind was the huge financial motivation and holding onto us that was tied to recouping the loss. I don't know if you found anything Patch. I was really, really trying my best to find how much the Philippines enriched Spain. I'm sure the Americans were thinking that they were gonna be able to extract at least the same plus another motivation. The Americans saw the Philippines as a market for American goods, and they saw the Filipinos as cheap labor, both on the ground there and over here to lower production costs and increase profits.

Patch: 15:40

Basically, there were advocates of both sides of the argument, right? Whether to prolong the eventual granting of independence, and then the other side who feel that there are gains to just giving us immediate independence. And for those who are advocating the prolonged transition, they were different groups. One group would be the Americans with the overseas investments in the Philippines.

Carmina: 16:06

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Patch: 16:07

The second group would be the importers, and those who enjoy tax-free Philippine products coming in.

Carmina: 16:15

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Patch: 16:16

The third would be the manufacturers and exporters of products to the Philippine market. And then there are the so-called Manila Americans. And these are the American residents who lived in the Philippines and carried on with businesses there. Among those with investments in the Philippines, they were the American Public Utility companies, food companies, and standard oil companies. Representatives of these companies, they're asking for at least 30 years to remain in the Philippines. Agricultural investors included other American sugar interests. The California packing company, which had a pineapple concession in Mindanao , and the Spencer Kellogg company, which had 5 million invested in equipment and ships to carry it to New York. So they were basically saying, you gave the Spaniards 10 years to liquidate their investments. You should certainly give your own citizens 20 years. Wow. Another powerful factor was the interest of standard oil, which has acquired large tracts of land in Tayabas and adjoining provinces, and had begun testing in some of them. So they spent a great deal of money in anti independence propaganda.

Carmina: 17:40

Patch that is just so I don't even know how to describe it.

Patch: 17:44

<laugh> .

Carmina: 17:46

I mean , nevertheless, I did read that from 1909 to 1913, there was what was called reciprocal free trade <laugh> . So basically what it meant was American businesses had an import monopoly and in exchange. They gave Filipinos tariff free access to the US for their goods. At the same time, American goods flooded the Philippines so much that Esta, which was the main shopping area of the Philippines at that time, looked like any US main street. All the stores apparently carried American brands, even American cars and fridges. Wow. That's how the elite Filipinos developed a taste for expensive American brands. All in all, what this really did was it severely disadvantaged the Philippines, and it made us reliant on the American market. It was another tool to prevent our independence. So this period ushered in benevolent assimilation. Remember that terminology Patch?

Patch: 18:52

So basically the love of the colonizers

Carmina: 18:54

<laugh>, That is the real translation <laugh> . So that became the doctrine of our colonization. And to be fair, this period did actually bring a lot of advancements to our country, especially since we were devastated by the back-to-back wars. However, the biggest contribution was in the field of education. English became the language of instruction. Our schools were patterned after the US public school system, and it definitely became an advantage to be one of the very few Asian nations to count English as one of our official languages as early as that time. The other thing that happened because of this act was the appointment of two Philippine commissioners because of this act. The Philippines was the first in Asia to have a national legislature in 1907. And this is when Manuel Quezon rose to prominence in politics because he represented the Philippines and the US House of Representatives. His name should sound familiar to our listeners because we talked about him as the second president overall, but the first under the Republic of the Philippines, he became a very popular figure in Congress. Politicians of both parties were said to have collaborated heavily with him, probably because he was also throwing favors around for his own political gain. And there were several things that happened in the US involving Quezon during this period that were significant for the Philippines campaign for Independence. Politically, for the first time in 1910, the Democrats who, if you recall, were anti imperialists, controlled the House of Representatives. And do you remember William Atkinson Jones of Virginia Patch? We talked about him in the last episode.

Patch: 20:47

Was he responsible for drafting the Jones Law?

Carmina: 20:49

And he was the person who the Jones Bridge was named after <laugh> , remember?

Patch: 20:53

Right.

Carmina: 20:54

He and Manuel Quezon got to know each other really well during his time representing the Philippines and Congress. So with the victory of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, there was also President Woodrow Wilson, who became president. And at first, a lot of people rejoiced because they thought he would throw support for Philippine independence patch behind the scenes <laugh> . He apparently was saying that the Philippines had to quote, have a long apprenticeship of obedience.

Patch: 21:27

Right? Or also some would say the idea that the Philippines needed to get better at self-governance, that we still had a long way to go before it would be right for them to basically set us free.

Carmina: 21:41

In 1916, the Jones Law of 1916, our Philippine Autonomy Act was passed. It replaced the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, and as we've mentioned to reflect the sentiment of the day, it promised the Philippines its eventual independence. So this law created the Philippines first fully elected body, which was the first step to making the Philippines more independent. But it continued to be headed by an appointed Governor General, which was always an American. And Patch more tea.

Patch: 22:16

Please spill.

Carmina: 22:17

It was actually Quezon who drafted several versions of this law. Not joking. <laugh>

Patch: 22:23

Really?

Carmina: 22:25

Apparently. But because of a lot of political drama going on both in the US and the Philippines, he couldn't really reveal it.

Patch: 22:32

Mm -hmm . <affirmative>.

Carmina: 22:33

Because of fears of being branded as anti nationalist. Anyway, as is normal for American politics, in 1921, the Republicans won the presidency again under President Warren Harding. There was again, another long period before that cause was even to be taken up. In the meantime, there was one very significant event that again influenced our trajectory for independence. And that happened on October 24th, 1929.

Patch: 23:07

The 1929 Wall Street disaster prompted Congress to pass the Smoot-Hawley Act, which boosted protective tariffs and launched a global trade war. So the Protectionist's interest moved their attention to the Philippines with industries fighting for its retention and US sugar growers demanding speedy independence.

Carmina: 23:31

Right? They really didn't want the Philippine goods and labor to be continuously flowing still to the United States. By this time, thousands of Filipinos already came to the United States and were initially welcomed as cheap farm and domestic laborers, but then we're blamed for American unemployment. And then on the side of goods, Philippine goods were starting to compete with American goods.

Patch: 23:58

This might be the right time to mention that racist hostility towards Filipinos increased and was fueled by certain groups advocating for independence given to the Philippines. Plus they were being accused of bringing in diseases. So this was the time that there was certainly an increase against Filipinos migrating to the US.

Carmina: 24:24

So it was certainly a dark, dark period, both for the US and the Philippines.

Patch: 24:30

So Carmina. In 1934, the Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed, which basically provided a 10 year transition period to Philippine independence by establishing a Philippine Commonwealth. It was an autonomous administrative body that would oversee the transition towards the 10 year countdown by handing internal matters to the Filipinos. But what it also meant was that the Philippines would still be a US territory during that time. And foreign affairs defense and financial matters were still under US. After completing 10 years, the United States would withdraw, and on July four of the succeeding year and would recognize the Philippines as an independent republic, there was going to be a high commissioner who would be the representative of the US President.

Carmina: 25:23

More tea on this Patch.<laugh>.

Patch: 25:25

What ?

Carmina: 25:26

I cannot believe that I unearthed this treasure trove of , uh, of tea. So before the Tydings-McDuffie Act, there was this Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act of 1933 that was passed in spite of a veto by then President Hoover.

Patch: 25:46

So I read a little bit about that. Wasn't that the one that imposed limits on Philippine goods and limited immigration to 50 Filipinos per year?

Carmina: 25:57

Well, that was part of it, but this is the real tea behind it.

Patch: 26:02

Uhhuh.

Carmina: 26:02

So when this whole thing was being debated in Congress, you know how Manuel Quezon was kind of the operator behind the scenes when it came to Philippine independence? Right? Right. During that time, he was ill. So he sent Sergio Osmenia and Manuel Rojas to advocate on the Philippines behalf. When the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act of 1933 passed, he realized that that was a political faux pas because Sergio Osmenia and Manuel Rojas would be credited for it.

Patch: 26:34

Mm .

Carmina: 26:35

He sabotaged it, Patch! <laugh>,

Patch: 26:37

How?

Carmina: 26:38

All of these things still needed to pass the Philippine assembly. And anything that came from Congress in the US still had to pass the Philippine assembly. So what Quezon did was he convinced the Philippine assembly that he could get a better deal, and the Philippine assembly basically rejected it. So after the Philippine assembly rejected it, Quezon returned to DC. However, by this time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or as he's commonly known, FDR was already the president, but he was really too busy with other more important matters to him concerning the United States, because he was still dealing with the effects of the Great Depression. But then Quezon somehow was able to finagle support from Miller Tidings of Maryland, who chaired the Senate Committee responsible for the Philippines, and representative John McDuffie of Alabama to garner support in the House for the Tydings–McDuffie Act, which get, this was basically just a copy of the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act. So he brought that to the Philippine assembly, and I don't know if people discerned that this was basically just a copy. They approved the Tydings–McDuffie Act. So anyway, as you said, it established the Philippine Commonwealth and who was elected president of the Commonwealth? We already know how this story ends. It was Manuel Quezon .

Patch: 28:04

Right.

Carmina: 28:05

And this is where another prominent figure in Philippine history entered the stage. Can you guess who?

Patch: 28:12

Who?

Carmina: 28:12

Douglas MacArthur was appointed as Field Marshall <laugh> .

Patch: 28:16

Oh, wait, what do you call him?

Carmina: 28:18

Dougie <laugh>.

Patch: 28:20

Yeah . <laugh>

Carmina: 28:23

Dougie was appointed as Field Marshall of the Philippine army, and he was also the military advisor to the Commonwealth government. So a little known fact about the Tydings–McDuffie Act, or maybe just little known to me,

Patch: 28:36

I'm sure, to me as well,

Carmina: 28:37

It gave the Philippine executive vast powers, including the ability to declare martial law, which as we know, Marcos used to his full advantage many decades later.

Patch: 28:51

Carmina, your tone of voice when reintroducing General MacArthur is very intriguing. Why <laugh> ?

Carmina: 28:59

Things to come, right? I think it's important to mention that in 1941, December 7, Japan bomb Pearl Harbor, and as we know, FDR declared war on Japan the very next day. And this is really where Douglas MacArthur shown , right? Because he led a lot of the war effort in the Pacific corridor, right? In January 23rd, 1942, as we know, the Japanese formed a puppet government, the Philippine Executive Commission. We are, of course, skipping so many important historical facts that we promise we'll cover in future episodes. But skipping ahead on October 20th, 1944, the very famous I shall Return quote, came to fruition when MacArthur returned to the Philippines to liberate it. And of course, we know that MacArthur had a lot more exploits during World War II that really cemented his prominence. The Philippines was declared liberated by McArthur on July 5th, 1945. And the reason why I had such a <laugh> sinister tone when mentioning MacArthur, is because he had his own political designs, he was going to be instrumental in what happens next in the Philippines. He reinstalled many of the traditional dynasties and protected the upper c lass Filipinos that he considered his friends. And as we know, many of those collaborated with the Japanese.

Patch: 30:30

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Carmina: 30:31

He especially went on a campaign to rehabilitate the reputation of Manuel Roxas because of MacArthur's help. Roxas was portrayed as someone who was a source of vital intelligence that led to the defeat of the Japanese. And even though evidence was lacking, MacArthur portrayed him to be part of the underground movement. He was basically grooming Rojas to be his ally. Finally, on July 4th, 1946, the US voluntarily relinquished control over the Philippines after half a century, half a century Patch. And no surprise, who was the president?

Patch: 31:11

Dun Dun Roxas.

Carmina: 31:13

Yes. So we're saying that July 4th, 1946 was Philippine Independence Day. And some new listeners might be confused because June 12th is Independence Day. Fortunately, we have an answer to that, but we aren't going to answer it in this episode because we already did in episode 16 of season one. So head over there please for the answer.

Patch: 31:37

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Carmina: 31:38

And really there's so much more to discuss about the aftermath.

Patch: 31:43

Yeah.

Carmina: 31:44

But this is where our story ends about the long and winding road to Philippine independence from the United States.

Patch: 31:52

For this episode, you mean <laugh>?

Carmina: 31:53

Yes. For this episode.

Patch: 31:56

So that's our episode. We hope you join us on our next trip.

Carmina: 32:00

O siya, siya!

Patch: 32:02

Ingat! Thanks for listening to Filtrip with Carmina and Patch Support Filtrip through Patreon or PayPal. And follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever all podcasts are downloaded.

Carmina: 32:21

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Patch: 32:30

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