Philippines

The Commonwealth of the Philippines existed from 1935 to 1946 as a transitional state under American sovereignty. It was created by the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which promised full independence after ten years. American motives were mixed: Filipino nationalism was one, and American sugar producers and labour unions wanting to exclude Philippine imports and migrants were another. Manuel Quezon was elected president. The Commonwealth had its own constitution, legislature and courts, while foreign policy and defence stayed with Washington. Douglas MacArthur was hired as field marshal to build an army, on a budget that made the task impossible. Japan invaded in December 1941, hours after Pearl Harbor. Bataan and Corregidor fell by May 1942 and the government went into exile in Washington. Some seventy-five thousand prisoners were force-marched from Bataan and thousands died. Japan installed a puppet republic under Jose Laurel while guerrilla resistance continued throughout the islands. The reconquest from October 1944 was among the most destructive campaigns of the war: Manila was fought street by street in 1945 and around a hundred thousand civilians died, leaving the city the second most damaged Allied capital after Warsaw. The Commonwealth was restored, and independence came on 4 July 1946, on schedule. It arrived with conditions - American bases, and parity rights for American businesses written into the constitution - which shaped the relationship for decades afterwards. Quezon died in exile in 1944 and never saw the reconquest. The Huk peasant movement fought the Japanese and then the post-war government. Filipino veterans of the US Army were stripped of promised benefits by an act of Congress in 1946. The country still marks 4 July as Republic Day rather than independence day, which was moved to 12 June in 1962.

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