Metro Infanta Foundation

The piece below is intended for publication in the MIF website because many of the present generation of Filipinos and Americans do not know or have forgotten the significance of 15 November and what first law was passed by the Commonwealth Government of MLQ.

Compare such relationship today and if you note any difference, by re-reading our history, you would understand why the present relationship.

15th November, It´s Significance
By Rudy A. Arizala
15 November 2007

I. Introduction
According to a news report from the Philippines, the American Ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney, honored the World War II veterans and their families in a simple but meaningful commemoration at the U.S. Ambassador´s residence at Camp John Hay in Baguio City on 6 Novmeber 2007. On said occasion Ambassador Kenney said in a speech: "We have with us today World War II veterans, people who served with distinction, fought on the ground, in the sea or in the air" and she expressed the hope that "those who have families take great comfort and pride in the service of those who died to keep us free and to keep us strong."

Who were those World War II veterans referred to and honored by the U.S. Ambassador at Camp John Hay on 6 November 2007, and what is the significance of the month of November to our history as a nation?

II. The Philippine Commonwealth; First Law Adopted
Those who were of school age prior to the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific in 1941, would remember that one early Friday morning on 15 November 1935, in front of the old Legislative building on Padre Burgos Avenue, the inaugural ceremonies of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and the oath-taking of newly elected President Manuel L. Quezon and Vice President Sergio Osmeña, Sr., were held in the presence of foreign guests such as U.S. Speaker of the House Joseph W. Byrns ; U.S. Vice President John N. Garner; U.S. Secretary George Dern; and scores of diplomatic representatives from foreign countries. The Commonwealth Government as provided in the Tydings-McDuffie Act is preparatory to the grant of Philippine Independence after a ten-year period from 1935. In other words, the Commonwealth is a semi-autonomous government of the Filipino people until full independence is finally attained.

Aside from the inaugural ceremonies in connection with the establishment of the Commonwealth Government and oath-taking of the newly-elected officials headed by President Manuel L. Quezon, the other significant fact, perhaps already forgotten by most Filipinos today, is the first Law adopted by the Commonwealth Government. It was the "National Defense Act."

The Philippine 1935 Constitution provides in the "Declaration of Principles" that while the Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy and adoptd the generally accepted principles of international law as a part of the law of the nation, the defense of the state is the prime duty of government. The Constitution likewise laid down that it was the compulsory duty of all citizens to render personal military or civil service, whether in time of peace or war.

President Quezon, determined to carry out the national defense policy, said in a speech n 26 November 1935 before the National Assembly:

"Self defense is the supreme right of mankind no more sacred to the individual than to the nation, the interests of which are immeasurably of greater significance and extent. A threat against the nation involves not alone the life of one individual but of millions; not the welfare and fortune of a single family but of all. . ."

Consequently, on 21 December 1935, the National Defense Act (Commonwealth Act No. 1) was approved by the National Assembly. It provided for an army of two elements: 1) a regular force of approximately 10,000 men including the Philippine Constabulary with a strength of about 7,000 and 2) a reserve force that would be augmented each year by approximately 40,000 men who had received 5½ months of intensive training. The first top-ranking officers appointed to the army were Paulino Santos as chief of staff, and General Reyes, Basilio Valdes and Vicente Lim as senior officers. At the end of 1935, the National Defense Law called for a total outlay of P15,996,531.00. For this purpose, the national defense program was to have an economic dimension. By patronizing local products whenever possible, the army was to help build up local industries. Quezon´s concept of a "Citizen Army" like that of Switzerland was that in time of peace it would be used exclusively to the arts of peace and agriculture, to industry and trade the sciences, and indeed to every activity that made for progress. President Quezon also stressed the fact that the Philippines should establish a factory of small arms and ammunitions to make Filipinos independent on foreign supplies so that according to him: "in the event of trouble we can depend upon ourselves."

For the building of a Filipino Army, Quezon hired Gen. Douglas MacArthur as military "advisor" with a salary of P36,000 (US$18,000) per year, a personal yearly allowance of P30,000 (US$15,000), and accommodations in a fully air-conditioned seven-room suite atop the Manila Hotel. Quezon was so impressed with MacArthur´s handling of the National Defense Plan. As a token of his appreciation for the general´s efforts and "constructive statesmanship," Quezon wrote the Speakcr of the National Assembly that he was raising the status of MacArthur to that of a field marshal--the highest military rank known in international usage.

The elevation of MacArthur to the rank of "Field Marshal" raised eye-brows if not consternation at the Pentagon. The rank was unknown in the United States Army, though in international military circles it was generally accepted as superior to that of a department or fleet commander.

I. World War II
The MacArthur-Quezon Commonwealth Army continued to develop both in terms of basic reorganization and numerical strength. In 1940, MacArthur stated in a press conference that 30,000 recruits were to be trained each year so that by 1946 the "citizen army" would include some thirty divisions of approximately 300,000 men. The plan was to reach, in the ensuing twenty years, its then estimated maximum of ninety divisions, comprising almost a million men.

By January 1941 on the eve of the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, there were 466 officers and 3,666 enlisted men in the regular army, and 132,000 men organized into approximately thirteen divisions in the reserve. As an adjunct to the Philippine Army, the Quezon-MacArthur plan also called for an offshore patrol of small, fast motor torpedo boats and an Army Air Corps whose chief function was coastal defense.

The Philippine National Defense Plan, however, was not without critics. Some ´pointed out that the Quezon-MacArthur army might not be able to provide adequately for the defense of the country because of the omission of provisions for a substantial naval protection for an insular country with a coastline longer than that of the United States. They likewise pointed out the lack of sufficient "air cover" to protect the entire Philippine archipelago.

Later, Quezon himself admitted to the National Assembly his impression that the Philippines could not be effectively defended either then or for "many years to come." The conflict in Europe and the reverses suffered by the Chinese troops before the Japanese convinced Quezon that MacArthur´s plans were inadequate. He realized the truth of the criticism that the MacArthur plan had not adequately provided for the air and naval defense of the Philippines. The truth was few American military leaders in the Philippines were confident of successfully meeting a foreign invasion of the islands. They were aware that the islands did not come first in American priorities. They hoped, however, that enough military forces would be in the Philippines to resist the attack until reinforcements arrived from America´s Pacific Fleet based in San Diego, California.

In view of the darkening war clouds in the Pacific, on 16 July 1941, the Philippine Army became part of the American Armed Forces, and Roosevelt named MacArthur as Commander of the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). Quezon wrote a congratulatory letter to MacArthur on his new appointment and said he was "fully confident that you´ll attain in this difficult assignment the same success that has crowned your every endeavor in the past."

To prevent the Philippines from immediately being overrun by the Japanese Forces, American plans called for a small American army in the Philippines to retreat into the Bataan Peninsula to stage a defensive action. Corregidor and the other islands in the entrance to Manila Bay were fortified in an attempt to deny the Japanese the use of the port of Manila. The garrisons on Bataan and Corregidor were to hold out against a Japanese attack until major efforts could be mounted from the United States.

The rest is history. The Filipino soldiers trained by MacArthur under the National Defense Act of the Commonwealth fought bravely side-by-side with the American forces from the beaches of Luzon up to Bataan and Corregidor. Ill-equipped and lacking in food supplies, they have no alternative except to surrender in 1942 to superior enemy forces Most of the Filipino soldiers after fighting in Bataan and Corregidor either formed or joined guerrilla forces; engaged in guerrilla warfare for three years; and helped the American forces in the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese forces in 1945.

II. Conclusion- Defending the Realm, Then and Now
According to a story, in preparation for Philippine Independence, Quezon one day went to see General MacArthur, then the chief of staff of the United States Army, and asked him pointedly: "General, do you think that the Philippines, once independent, can defend itself? If you cannot give me an honest and direct answer, please ignore the question." The General MacArthur reportedly replied: " I know they can. By this I mean that you can organize such defense as will make the conquest of the Philippines so expensive and so costly in life and money that no nation in its senses will attempt to do it."

On such concept, the Quezon-MacArthur Commonwealth Army was conceived, organized and made to function. It was basically a "Citizen Army" which in time of peace, according to Quezon, would be devoted mainly to the arts of peace and indeed to every activity that lead to social and economic progress. This could be also a valid basis for our concept of national defense these days but with the additional consideration that we have also to fight or wage a war on terrorism which requires different concept, organization and strategy. But by all means, let us not also forget to keep a respectable standing army for the defense of our territory, sovereignty and independence as enjoined by the fundamental law of the land.

If Quezon were alive today, while he would be happy to see that veterans of World War II who were members of his "Citizens Army" at the outbreak of World War II are being honored, he would nevertheless still fight for better benefits for them and their respective families not forgetting that defending the realm, then and now, is still the prime duty of government and its citizens. To my mind, that was the significance of 15 November 1935.