{"id":1676,"date":"2019-08-01T08:54:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T08:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/?page_id=1676"},"modified":"2019-08-01T08:54:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T08:54:31","slug":"manuel-quezon-calls-for-filipino-independence-1919","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/21-world-war-i\/manuel-quezon-calls-for-filipino-independence-1919\/","title":{"rendered":"Manuel Quezon calls for Filipino Independence (1919)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During\nWorld War I, Woodrow Wilson set forth a vision for a new global future of\ndemocratic self-determination. The United States had controlled the Philippines\nsince the Spanish-American War. After World War I, the U.S. legislature held\njoint hearings on a possible Philippine independence. Manuel Quezon came to\nWashington as part of a delegation to make the following case for Filipino\nindependence. It would be fifteen years until the United States acted and, in\n1935, Manuel Quezon became the first president of the Philippines.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026The Philippine Legislature, in accordance with the\nwishes of the Filipino people, sent a special mission to this country bearing\nthe message of good will, respect, and gratitude from the people of the\nPhilippine Islands to the Government and people of the United States. This\nmission is truly and thoroughly representative. It is composed of men\nrepresenting all walks of life in the Philippines\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So large and representative a body, Mr. Chairman, has\ncome to you charged by our people with the noble and sacred mission of pleading\nfor the national independence of the Philippine Islands. The Filipino people\nfeel that the time has come when steps should be taken immediately by the\nGovernment of the United States for the recognition of the sovereignty of the\nFilipino people over their own country. It is, I think, the first time in the\nhistory of the world where a country under the sovereignty of another seeks its\nseparation from the latter not on the ground of grievances or abuses that call\nfor redress but rather on the ground that the work of the ruling country has\nbeen so well and nobly performed that it is no longer necessary that she should\nstill direct the destinies of her colony; and so the colony, with love and\ngratitude for the governing country, seeks her separation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have nothing but words of praise and appreciation\nfor the work so well performed by the United States, and yet you will readily\nunderstand why nothing short of independence would ever fully satisfy our\npeople. The granting of our national freedom at this time is in accordance with\nthe avowed policy of the United States with regard to the Philippine Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026the Congress of the United States in 1916 passed a\nlaw entitled: \u201can act to declare the purpose of the people of the United States\nas to the future political status of the people of the Philippine Islands, and\nto provide a more autonomous government for those islands.\u201d\u2026This law\u2026was\nenacted for the avowed purpose of promising independence to the Philippines and\ngiving the Filipinos and opportunity to learn\u2014if they did not know, and to\ndemonstrate if they did\u2014their capacity to govern themselves. This act has been\nin operation for three years. It was passed at a time when the whole world was\nin one of the most critical periods in its history. It required ability,\npatriotism, and intelligence of the highest order on the part of the people of\nthe Philippine Islands to create the new government as provided by this act,\nand to assume the new responsibilities in the face of the perplexing problems\nbrought about by the war\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have kept order and peace during these three years\nof war. We have not only done that, we have not only kept peace and order\nwithin our borders, but we were ready\u2014nay, anxious\u2014once you had entered the war\nyourselves, to go outside of the Philippines and fight with you and for you in\nthe battle fields of France, or wherever the Government of the United States\nwould care to send our men. The Filipinos have shown in this critical time\ntheir loyalty to the United States, their appreciation of what you have done\nfor them and have shown it not in words but in deeds\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Filipinos have organized, as I said, a new\ngovernment. Under this new government the country has made progress in\neducation, in commerce, in industry, in agriculture. In other words, it has\nmade progress in every way. So we feel that the conditions laid down by the\nJones Act as prerequisite for the granting of Philippine independence have been\nperformed; that we have shown not only that a stable government can be\nestablished in the islands but that there is now one there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still another reason why we think that the\nindependence of the Philippines should be granted at this time and that is\nbecause of the attitude taken by this Government in the recent war. You said\nyou have gone to war for the liberation of mankind; for the right of every\npeople to govern themselves. Indeed, you have made good those declarations in\nthus far recognizing the independent existence of several countries of Europe;\ncertainly it would be nothing but natural that the Filipinos should feel that\nyou would make those declarations good with regard to the people of the\nPhilippines. You have recognized the independence of countries of Europe which\nhave been under the control of autocratic powers; who have had no opportunity\nof exercising the powers of self-government, and to these countries you were\nnot pledged to give independence, you were not in any way related, you were not\ntied by bonds of long association and affection. How can you afford not to recognize\nthe independence of the Filipino people whom you have solemnly promised\nindependence, whom you have helped to acquire the science and practice of\nself-government, and who are bound to you by ties of affection, friendship, and\neternal gratitude? The granting of our national freedom will be at this time\nthe object lesson that you could give to the world that this country can give\nof her belief in democracy and in the rights of every people to be free and to\ngovern themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Manuel Quezon, \u201cStatement of Hon. Manuel L.\nQuezon, President of the Philippine Senate and Chairman of the Philippine\nMission,\u201d in Philippine Independence:\nHearings before the Committee on the Philippines, United States Senate, and the\nCommittee on Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, Held Jointly<\/em>\n(Washington: Government Printing Office, 1919), 4-8. Available via Google Books\n(https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=PSs4AAAAYAAJ<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During World War I, Woodrow Wilson set forth a vision for a new global future of democratic self-determination. The United States had controlled the Philippines since the Spanish-American War. After World War I, the U.S. legislature held joint hearings on a possible Philippine independence. Manuel Quezon came to Washington as part of a delegation to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":374,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1676","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1677,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1676\/revisions\/1677"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}