American Policies in the Philippines
Right after the 333 years of the Spanish colonial rule, the Philippines was set to a bargain by the Spaniards with a price of 20 million dollars to the Americans in 1898 after knowing the certainty of loss from the battle against the United States by the Treaty of Paris – an agreement or contract that made effective of the aforementioned sale of the country. By the time of the purchase, the Filipinos already had a clear thought about being governed with American policies for their political lives in the country.
The Americans had an intention in occupying the Philippine islands with lesser violence as well as in governing the Filipino people genuinely by providing their basic needs and by answering top concerns about their safety and welfare. Their primary plan was to establish a civil government just like the orthodox government system in America. Unfortunately, it was prevented by war and resistance of the rebels in the country. Somehow, despite the delay of the establishment, the American policies successfully dominated the Philippine Constitution and later were enjoyed by the Filipinos.
The Schurman Commission
After a year of the American rule in the country, the Schurman Commission arrived. It was the first effort of the Americans to provide service to the Filipinos in the means of political policies. It was a commission set to conduct an investigation about the condition of the country with the purpose of evaluating the amount of damage and the requirements and needs to cover up what were destroyed during the war.
The main respondents were the elite Filipinos who were highly-educated. Unfortunately, the poor ones were excluded in the survey since they were seen as non-participative on them. A month after its implementation, it issued the following set of recommendations to implement American rule (Blount, 1913):
- The enforcement of American sovereignty over the entire Philippines.
- Training for self-government if the Filipinos compatible with the maintenance of order and with a wise, just, and economical administration of public affairs.
- Protection of the civil rights of the Filipinos.
- The promotion of the welfare of the Filipinos.
The Taft Commission
A year after the implementation of the Schurman Commission, the Americans created the Taft Commission to further help the Filipinos for the country’s immediate recovery from the war. It was administered by the present President of the United States, McKinley, in 1900. He established a type of government where the Filipinos could preserve their own customs and traditions. He added that while the Filipinos must learn the American cultures for them to understand the American governance towards the Philippine politics, they should also recognize their own cultures as they serve as the source of Filipino identity.
The Public School System
In the educational aspect, the Commission granted the Filipinos free access to education, in contrast to the selective type of educational system brought by the Spaniards where only the wealthy Filipinos were privileged to earn education both lower and higher ladders of learning. It also introduced to the schools the English language as the medium of instruction and uniformity. It was, indeed one of the greatest contribution of the Americans to the Philippines.
The ‘Pensionado’ Program
Following to the development of the public educational system originally projected from the Taft Commission was the Pensionado Program that aimed to send Filipino scholars to the United States for higher education with total privileges given by the American Government. Its main purpose was to replace the Thomasites as teachers, serve the country as lawyers, doctors, engineers, and many other profession that could really help develop the own country. After four years in college and living among Americans in the US, they were expected to leave the country with the knowledge and excellence for the benefit of the Philippines as a whole.
The Civil Government
Under the issuance of the Taft Commission, the civil government was made effective. By creator of the Taft Commission, William H, Taft, was also then the first civil governor. It was also part of the law that the governor was given the power in the legislative branch of the government, thus allowing the policies to be passed and legalized as fast as possible with hindrances from the opposing party.
With the amendment, known as the Spooner Amendment from its preceding form, the Army Appropriation Act, the President of the United States was allowed to establish a civil government in the Philippines (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1914).
The Political Parties
One of the actions in granting the Filipinos freedom by the Americans was the freedom to form political parties. The Americans really gave space for the Filipinos in the decision-making and processes in the government. For as long as no attempt of independence from American control is made as an advocacy, a certain political party could easily become official. According to the Philippine Historical Association, the first political party ever formed in Philippine politics was the Federal Party whose main platform was based on the annexation of the Philippines to the United States of America’s territory and jurisdiction.
As an opposing party, Nacionalista Party was formed in 1901 to create an opposition force against the plan for annexation. Nacionalista Party wanted immediate independence from the American colonial rule, so as the Liberal Party in 1902 and the first Democrata Party in the same year who both agreed to have a step-by-step process of independence. Although the American government did not like those political parties who opposed their colonial rule, they still gave them the freedom to do so as part of their liberal moves towards the country.
The existence of peace and order, the Americans had taken the opportunity to practice the different patterns of the American systems to the country – the Philippines. However, resistance persisted, but, fortunately, they successfully passed these challenges. During the process, several steps as planned were successfully taken place such as giving the Filipinos the benefit of wise and just governance, granting the Filipino citizens the sweetness of civil liberties that were deprived during the Spanish colonization, and training the Filipinos in self-government as preparation for independence (Blount, the Knickerbocker Press, 1913), a desire that was really rarely heard from a colonizer and was never granted by the Spaniards in the 1800’s.
The primary purpose of these actions was to help the Philippines re-establish its economy to its stable state, reforms in the government, and, of course, recover the Filipinos from their nothingness caused by the destruction of the war.
Reference:
Agoncillo, Teodoro A. & Milagros C. Guerrero. History of the Filipino People. 4th ed. Quezon City: R.P. Garcia Publishing Co., 1973.
Blount, James H. The American Occupation of the Philippines. New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1913.
Cannon, M. Harmlin. Leyte: The Return of the Philippines. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1954.
Department of Foreign Affairs. “Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States Concerning Military Bases.” March 14, 1947. United Nations Treaty Series 1968, Document no. 673.