Congress of the Philippines

“ Congress has, with far-seeing wisdom, heartily supported all that has been done by the Executive. Wise laws for the government of the Philippine Islands have been placed upon the statute books, and under those laws provision is made for the introduction into the Philippines of representative government, with only the delay absolutely necessary to allow for the establishment of definite peace, for the taking of a census, and the settling down of the country. In short, we are governing the Filipinos primarily in their interest, and for their very great benefit. ”

“ The future government of the Philippines rests with the Congress of the United States. Few graver responsibilities have ever been confided to us. If we accept them in a spirit worthy of our race and our traditions, a great opportunity comes with them. The islands lie under the shelter of our flag. They are ours by every title of law and equity. They cannot be abandoned. If we desert them we leave them at once to anarchy and finally to barbarism. We fling them, a golden apple of discord, among the rival powers, no one of which could permit another to seize them unquestioned. ”

“ Cotton, sugar, rice, hemp, coffee and tobacco, all tropical fruits and woods, are of the products. There is profusion of the riches that await the freedom of labor and the security of capital, and the happiness of the people. Under American government the Philippines would prosper, and it would be one of our tasks to frame legislation. The laws of Congress would be the higher code of law, and the Philippines would desire, and be invited, of course, to send their ablest men to be Territorial representatives in the Congress of the United States. ”

“ The conditions Congress made precedent to the grant of an assembly have not been met, and we each and all of us know it. We owe more to our own country and to truth than we do to the Filipinos. The Act of Congress of 1902 did not vest in the Philippine Commission authority to pardon disturbances of public order. It imposed upon the Commission an implied duty to report such disturbances, fully and frankly. It is not true that there has been a continuing state of general and complete peace in these Islands for the last two years, and I for one will not certify that there has been. ”

“ So do the Filipinos know this. Therefore they clamor ever louder and louder against all American attempts to repeal the anti-exploiting Acts of Congress by “liberal” interpretation. Many an American just here is sure to ask himself, “Why all this ‘clamor’? Do we not give them good government? What just ground have they for complaint?” Yes, we do give them very good government, so far as the Manila end of the business is concerned, except that it is a far more expensive government than any people on the earth would be willing to impose on themselves. ”

“ The scheme of Government is set forth in the decree of June 23d, marked "D." An examination of this document shows that it provides a Dictatorship of the familiar South American type. All power is centered in the President, and he is not responsible to any one for his acts. He is declared to be "the personification of the Philippine public, and in this view cannot be held responsible while he holds office. His term will last until the Revolution triumphs." He appoints not only the heads of the departments, but all their subordinates, and without reference to Congress. ”

“ Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military.
Sec. 6. Promotion of Unity. – The Bangsamoro Government shall promote unity, peace, justice, and goodwill among all peoples, as well as encourage a just and peaceful settlement of disputes.
Sec. 7. Social Justice. – The Bangsamoro Government shall ensure every Filipino citizen in its territorial jurisdiction the provision of the basic necessities and equal opportunities in life. Social justice shall be promoted in all aspects of life and phases of development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. ”

“ The territorial form of government has frequently been regarded by American statesmen as a temporary condition to be followed at a comparatively early date by statehood. But after more than a century of development, territorial government, as shaped by Congress and as defined by the Supreme Court, shows itself so flexible and advantageous that there is no reason why it should not be regarded as a permanent and final form. Whether it will long prevail in the Philippines, depends very largely upon the political development and ultimate desires of the Filipino people themselves. ”

“ If, on the other hand, Congress should formally declare that it is the purpose of this government to give the Filipinos their independence as soon as a stable native government can be set up, thus holding out to the present generation the prospect of living to see the independence of their country, the place would also quickly blossom as aforesaid, through the generous ardor of native love of country. ”

“ Therefore we are disposed to make a treaty or convention with them. They will be no longer able to allege the lack of national character, for in the near future there is to be assembled the Revolutionary Congress composed of the Representatives of the provinces.
“They should understand that they have come to make war on the Spaniards; that the Filipinos have risen in arms against the same enemy to achieve their liberty and independence; and that in consequence they cannot exercise dominion over us without violation of international law. ”

“ I think there is a lesson here to be learned about trying to stifle a thing with a means by which it grows. I don’t think anybody in or outside our country, concerned for a democratic and open Philippines doubts what must be done. ”

“ Each would seek to be the first to be recommended by American authority as ready for statehood. I do not believe the annals of national experience contain any analogy where every member of a given community has rallied to a common cause more completely than the whole Filipino people would rally to such a prospective programme of independence. The [639] unanimity would be as absolute as the kind we saw among the American people at the outbreak of the Spanish War, when Congress one fine morning placed fifty millions of dollars at the disposal of President McKinley by a unanimous vote. ”

“ I am deeply grateful to you for coming this Congress, I can say that with the establishment of this Congress, our battle for freedom is at an end. Let all nations take notice that we have an Army, A Congress and a Government, three things needed to replace the Spanish rule in our beloved Philippines. All progressive nations like America, France and England, also availed these three things to attain liberty, wisdom and wealth
There are those patriots only in word, and others who advocate annexation. These kind of men will destroy our nation. ”

“ Until Congress shall direct otherwise, it will be the duty of the Executive to possess and hold the Philippines, giving to the people thereof peace and order and beneficent government, affording them every opportunity to prosecute their lawful pursuits, encouraging them in thrift and industry, making them feel and know that we are their friends, not their enemies, that their good is our aim, that their welfare is our welfare, but that neither their aspirations nor ours can be realized until our authority is acknowledged and unquestioned. ”

“ All you need is a program, sanctioned by Congress, containing a promise of independence, and men sent out to the islands to work out the program. They would report back from time to time, and the Congress by whose authority they went out would have no hesitation in being guided by their recommendations. If unpatriotic greed for office among the Filipinos, or other opposition animated by evil motives, should block the game, your Americans so sent out would have to recommend the calling of a halt. ”

“ If a specification is wanted as a definition, we have to say the meaning is just what has happened in California since our flag was there. In the case of the Philippines, if we stick, and we do not see how we can help doing so, the President will, in regular course, appoint a Territorial Governor, and as a strong Government capable of quick and final decisions must be made, the Governor should be a military man, and have a liberal grant, by special Act of Congress, of military authority. ”

“ Filipinos wanted independence. Mabini thought that it was possible that the wording of the constitution might have been deliberately planned by members of the congress in favour of annexation to the United States, so that that country would be warned, would become more mistrustful, and would refuse to recognize Aguinaldo’s government. Whatever the president of the council may have thought about the theoretical advisability of a congress to represent the people, he found one much in the way when he had obtained it. ”

“ His familiarity with conditions from the time of America's occupation, the establishment of civil government, the settling of the various commercial questions that have arisen from time to time, make him the most effective champion for the Philippine interests in America, and he has not hesitated in Congress whenever your interests are at stake, to stand up and contend for your interests with vehemence that ought to make him eligible to all option as a Philippine citizen.... ”

“ There are only two hemispheres to a sphere, and our manifest destiny lies in the Western one. We do not want the earth. Our mission as a nation is to conserve the republican form of government, and the consent-of-the-governed principle, and to promote the general peace of mankind by insuring it in our half of the earth. The first thing to do to set this country right again is to get rid of the Philippines, and give them a square deal, pursuant to the spirit of the neutralization resolutions now pending before Congress. ”

“ If Congress should ever care to do anything to improve the Philippine Civil Service and the status of Americans entering the same, certainly the one supremely obvious thing to do is to make transfer back to the civil service in the United States after a term of duty in the Islands a matter of right. ”

“ Let us briefly glance at the net results of this law, and its predecessor, the Act of 1902, the export features of which it re-enacted. It is important that every fair-minded American who can possibly spare the time should take such a glance at what Congress has done to the Philippine hemp industry, because of the obvious bearing that such taxation without representation will probably have on the attitude of the Philippine people whenever we get into a war with a foreign power. ”

“ The executive of a country is, as we have said, the official who executes the laws. In the United States the President is the executive. The laws are framed by men whom the people elect to do the work. The men thus elected become what is called a legislative, 217or law-making, body. The chief legislative body in the United States is Congress. When the central government was set up here in the Philippines, in September, 1900, the executive, or governor, was Major-General MacArthur, commander of the army. ”

“ That if the Filipino people are unwilling or afraid to assume the responsibilities of independent nationhood by 1946, their only alternative is to petition Congress to declare the Philippines permanently as American territory. ”

“ Republican and Democratic origin, now pending in Congress, whereby the other powers should agree not to annex the Islands after we give them their independence, the Philippines can be made permanently neutral territory in Asiatic politics exactly as both Switzerland and Belgium have been for nearly a hundred years in European politics. ”

“ There exists among the Insurgent records a very important document, prepared by Mabini, showing that when the call for the first session of the Filipino congress was issued, there were no less than sixty-one provinces and commandancias, which the Insurgents, when talking among themselves, did not even claim to control, and twenty-one of these were in or immediately adjacent to Luzón.31 [260]
The men who composed this congress were among the ablest natives of the archipelago; but representative [261] institutions mean nothing unless they represent the people ”

“ So that the question is narrowed further to the inquiry whether the Philippine government cannot do what unquestionably Congress might.
As Congress is not prevented by the Constitution, the Philippine government cannot be prevented by the Philippine Bill of Rights alone. ”

“ Should our power by any fatality be withdrawn, the commission believe that the government of the Philippines would speedily lapse into anarchy, which would excuse, if it did not necessitate, the intervention of other powers and the eventual division of the islands among them. Only through American occupation, therefore, is the idea of a free, self-governing, and united Philippine commonwealth at all conceivable. ”

“ Pursuant to the declaration of State policies under Section 12, Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, it is the duty of the State to protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution and equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception. The State shall protect and promote the right to health of women especially mothers' in particular and of the people in general and instill health Consciousness among them. ”

“ Agents of the State refer to persons who, by direct provision of the law, popular election or appointment by competent authority, shall take part in the performance of public functions in the government, or shall perform in the government or in any of its branches public duties as an employee, agent or subordinate official, of any rank or class. ”