Signed | July 4, 1946 |
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Location | Manila, Philippines |
Effective | October 22, 1946 |
Condition | Exchange of ratifications |
Signatories | |
Depositary | Government of the Philippines |
Citations | 61 Stat. 1174, TIAS 1568, 11 Bevans 3, 7 UNTS 3 |
Language | English |
Full text | |
Treaty of Manila (1946) at Wikisource |
History of the Philippines |
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Timeline |
Philippinesportal |
The Treaty of Manila of 1946, formally the Treaty of General Relations and Protocol, [1] is a treaty of general relations signed on July 4, 1946, in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It relinquished U.S. sovereignty over the Philippines and recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines. The treaty was signed by High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt as representative of the United States and President Manuel Roxas as representative of the Philippines.
It was signed by US President Harry Truman on August 14, 1946, after the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent on July 31, 1946, by ratification of the treaty. [2] It was ratified by the Philippines on September 30, 1946. [3] The treaty entered into force on October 22, 1946, when ratifications were exchanged. [3] The treaty was accompanied by a "provisional agreement concerning friendly relations and diplomatic and consular representation" (60 Stat. 1800, TIAS 1539, 6 UNTS 335) until the treaty was ratified.
Commodore Dewey's decisive victory in the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, marked the fall of Spanish inshore defenses in the Philippines. [4] Dewey's victory was later followed by an alliance between US forces and Filipino forces commanded by General Emilio Aguinaldo, who declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898, and went on to form the First Philippine Republic. [5] Aguinaldo's proclamation of independence was recognized by neither Spain nor the US.
At the time of Aguinaldo's proclamation, Filipino troops were set on defeating the last of the Spaniards. By the end of July, an estimated total of 12,000 US troops had arrived to join the Filipino forces. [6] Tensions in the alliance surfaced during this period. To begin with, the American and Filipino troops were said to have "lacked that camaraderie usually present between military associates." [7] In Major Cornelius Gardner's words:
Almost without exception, soldiers and also many officers refer to the natives in their presence as "niggers" and natives are beginning to understand what the word "nigger" means. [7]
The "painful discrepancy in interests" [7] became increasingly obvious to Aguinaldo, who once declined to attend a Fourth of July ceremony in Cavite after he was addressed "general", instead of "president", in the written invitation. [7] The intentionality behind the alliance was directly addressed in conversations between Aguinaldo, Dewey, and other US generals. In a meeting, Aguinaldo was reported to have bluntly asked, "Does the United States intend to hold the Philippines as dependencies?" [7] Brigadier General Thomas Anderson dismissed Aguinaldo's speculations: "I cannot answer that, but in 122 years we have established no colonies.... I leave you to draw your own inference." [7]
The Philippine–American War culminated in the formal transfer of power over the Philippines. The Philippine Proclamation of Independence on June 12, 1898, was neglected by both Spain and the U.S. Instead, both agreed on a set of terms provided by the Treaty of Paris to which the First Philippine Republic objected, marking the start of the Philippine–American War.
The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was an agreement made in 1898 that involved Spain relinquishing nearly all of the remaining Spanish Empire, especially Cuba, and ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. The cession of the Philippines involved a payment of $20 million from the United States to Spain. [8] The treaty was signed on December 10, 1898, and ended the Spanish–American War. The Treaty of Paris came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the documents of ratification were exchanged. [9]
The Treaty of Paris marked the end of the Spanish Empire, apart from some small holdings in Africa. It marked the beginning of the age of the United States as a world power.
In 1899, US President William McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission to investigate and to make recommendations on the islands. [10] Although it concluded "the Filipinos are wholly unprepared for independence... there being no Philippine nation, but only a collection of different peoples," [11] [12] it acknowledged Philippine desires for independence and recommended measures, such as public education and a bicameral legislature, to create an "advancement to a position among the most civilized peoples of the world" and thus to "an enlightened system of government under which the Philippine people may enjoy the largest measure of home rule and the amplest liberty." [13]
The Philippine–American War intervened, during which McKinley heeded the commission's recommendations, established the Second Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission), and granted it legislative and limited executive powers. [10] At first, it was the sole legislative body of the Philippines, but after the passage of the Philippine Organic Act in 1902, the Commission functioned as one house of a bicameral legislature.
By the end of his term, US President Theodore Roosevelt "came to believe that the United States could not sustain long-term imperialism because of its ideals of self-government and its party system."
Furthermore, many Republicans and most Democrats had started to demand for an immediate promise by the US of eventual independence, which contributed to the slow US embrace of eventual Philippine independence. [14]
In 1916, Congress passed the Jones Law, which served as the new organic act, or constitution, for the Philippines. Its preamble stated that the eventual independence of the Philippines would be American policy, subject to the establishment of a stable government. It removed the commission from the upper house of the legislature and replaced it with an elected senate, thus changing the Philippine Legislature into the Philippines' first fully-elected body and making it more autonomous of the US government. However, the executive branch continued to be headed by an appointed Governor-General of the Philippines, who would always be an American. [15] [16] [17]
In 1934, Congress passed the Tydings–McDuffie Act to establish the process for the Philippines to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period.
In 1934, Manuel L. Quezon, the President of the Senate of the Philippines, headed a "Philippine Independence mission" to Washington, DC. [18] It successfully lobbied Congress and led to the passage of the Tydings–McDuffie Act, officially the Philippine Independence Act, setting into motion the process for the Philippines to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the act, the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines was written and the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established, with the first directly elected President of the Philippines (direct elections to the Philippine Legislature have been held since 1907). [19] The Commonwealth, as established in 1935 featured a very strong executive, a unicameral national assembly, and a supreme court that had entirely Filipinos for the first time since 1901.
In 1935, Quezon won the election to fill the newly created office of President, and a government was formed on the basis of principles that were superficially similar to the US Constitution. The new government embarked on an ambitious agenda of establishing the basis for national defense, greater control over the economy, reforms in education, improvement of transport, the colonization of the island of Mindanao, and the promotion of local capital and industrialization. The Commonwealth however, was also faced with agrarian unrest, an uncertain diplomatic and military situation in Southeast Asia, and uncertainty about the level of United States commitment to the future Republic of the Philippines. [20]
In 1939 and 1940, the Philippine Constitution was amended to restore a bicameral Congress and to permit the re-election of Quezon, previously restricted to a single, six-year term.
During the Commonwealth years, the Philippines sent one elected Resident Commissioner to the US House of Representatives, as Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories do.
The Japanese invaded the Philippines in late 1941, gaining full control of the islands by May 1942. The occupation continued for three years until the surrender of Japan, and the Commonwealth government went into exile from 1942 to 1945. [21]
The Commonwealth ended when the United States recognized Philippine independence on July 4, 1946, as scheduled per the Tyding-McDuffie Act and Article XVIII of the 1935 Constitution. [22] [23] In accordance with the Tydings–McDuffie Act, President Harry S. Truman issued Proclamation 2695 of July 4, 1946 officially recognizing the independence of the Philippines. [24] On the same day, the Treaty of Manila was signed.
However, the economy remained dependent on the United States. [25] As a precondition for receiving war rehabilitation grants from the United States, the Philippines agreed to the Bell Trade Act, otherwise known as the Philippine Trade Act. This granted preferential tariffs on U.S. trade and pegged the peso to the U.S. dollar. [26] [27]
The Treaty of Manila relinquished U.S. possession of the Philippines and recognized the Republic of the Philippines. It contained several provisions that established but also limited full Philippine sovereignty.
The treaty contained several key provisions:
On July 4, 1946, representatives of the United States of America and of the Republic of the Philippines signed the Treaty of General Relations between the two governments. The treaty provided for the recognition of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines as of July 4, 1946, and the relinquishment of American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands. [29]
However, before the 1946 treaty was authorized, a secret agreement was signed between Philippine President Osmena and US President Truman. President Osmena "supported U.S. rights to bases in his country by backing them publicly and by signing a secret agreement." [30] That culminated in the Military Bases Agreement, which was signed and submitted for Philippine Senate approval by Osmena's successor, President Manuel Roxas.
For that reason, the U.S. retained dozens of military bases, including a few major ones. In addition, independence was qualified by legislation passed by the US Congress. For example, the Bell Trade Act provided a mechanism by which US import quotas might be established on Philippine articles that "are coming, or are likely to come, into substantial competition with like articles the product of the United States." It also required US citizens and corporations be granted equal access to Philippine minerals, forests, and other natural resources. [31] In hearings before the Senate Committee on Finance, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs William L. Clayton described the law as "clearly inconsistent with the basic foreign economic policy of this country" and "clearly inconsistent with our promise to grant the Philippines genuine independence." [32]
Despite these inconsistencies, Roxas did not have objections to most of the US-proposed military bases agreement in 1947. Roxas made the following demands. [30]
However, there were two instances that even Roxas "felt politically unable to accept the U.S. position". [30] Firstly, the US proposed to have its own large-scale military facility in Manila even though it would have intervened with urban growth as well as lead to "serious friction between U.S. soldiers and local citizens" [30] because of the hostile postwar environment. Manila-based US military personnel were then already prone to altercations with the locals [30] and so having an extensive US military base will only exacerbate the hostility. Secondly, the US demanded criminal jurisdiction over all members of the US military bases in the Philippines "regardless of who the victim was and whether the offense was committed on or off base, on or off duty," [30] which was essentially a "revival of extraterritoriality." [30]
The US State Department viewed the Philippines' objections as reasonable and urged the War and Navy Departments to reconsider their excessive demands. [33] After a month of negotiation, the US sought only navy and air bases in the Philippines, which removed the need for facility construction in Manila. [33] Roxas praised the US for its decision to reconsider and stated that "on every major matter, the essential interests of the United States and the Philippines were 'identical.'" [34]
On March 17, Roxas submitted the Military Bases Agreement to the Philippine Senate for approval. Senator Tomas Confesor stated that the military bases were "established here by the United States, not so much for the benefit of the Philippines as for their own." [30] He cautioned his fellow senators, "We are within the orbit of expansion of the American empire. Imperialism is not yet dead." [30]
The Military Bases Agreement was approved by the Philippine Senate on March 26, 1947, with all eighteen present senators in favor. Three senators did not attend the session in protest, and three others were barred by allegations of voter fraud. [30]
The Tydings–McDuffie Act, officially the Philippine Independence Act, is an Act of Congress that established the process for the Philippines, then an American territory, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the act, the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines was written and the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established, with the first directly elected President of the Philippines. It also established limitations on Filipino immigration to the United States.
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who is the youngest president of the Philippines (1899–1901) and became the first president of the Philippines and of an Asian constitutional republic. He led the Philippine forces first against Spain in the Philippine Revolution (1896–1898), then in the Spanish–American War (1898), and finally against the United States during the Philippine–American War (1899–1901). Though he was not recognized as president outside of the revolutionary Philippines, he is regarded in the Philippines as having been the country's first president during the period of the First Philippine Republic.
The Commonwealth of the Philippines was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States that existed from 1935 to 1946. It was established following the Tydings–McDuffie Act to replace the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands and was designed as a transitional administration in preparation for full Philippine independence. Its foreign affairs remained managed by the United States.
The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed the Philippine Islands under the Treaty of Paris. Philippine nationalists constituted the First Philippine Republic in January 1899, seven months after signing the Philippine Declaration of Independence. The United States did not recognize either event as legitimate, and tensions escalated until fighting commenced on February 4, 1899 in the Battle of Manila.
The governor-general of the Philippines was the title of the government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, governed by Mexico City and Madrid (1565–1898) and the United States (1898–1946), and briefly by Great Britain (1762–1764) and Japan (1942–1945). They were also the representative of the executive of the ruling power.
Sergio Osmeña Sr. was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the fourth President of the Philippines from 1944 to 1946. He was Vice President under Manuel L. Quezon. Upon Quezon's sudden death in 1944, Osmeña succeeded him at age 65, becoming the oldest person to assume the Philippine presidency until Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016 at age 71. A founder of the Nacionalista Party, Osmeña was also the first Visayan to become president.
In the law of the United States, an insular area is a U.S.-associated jurisdiction that is not part of a U.S. state or the District of Columbia. This includes fourteen U.S. territories administered under U.S. sovereignty, as well as three sovereign states each with a Compact of Free Association with the United States. The term also may be used to refer to the previous status of the Swan Islands, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, as well as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands when it existed.
Claro Mayo Recto Jr. was a Filipino politician, statesman, lawyer, jurist, author, writer, columnist, and poet. Perhaps best known as the president of the 1934 Constitutional Convention and the Father of the 1935 Philippine Constitution, he is remembered as a fierce opponent of U.S. neocolonialism in Asia and for his staunch nationalist leadership throughout his career.
Manuel Acuña Roxas was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of the Philippines from 1946 until his death in 1948. He served briefly as the third and last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from May 28, 1946, to July 4, 1946, and became the first President of the Independent Third Philippine Republic after the United States ceded its sovereignty over the Philippines.
Philippine Republic Day, also known as Philippine–American Friendship Day, is a commemoration in the Philippines held annually on July 4. It was formerly an official holiday designated as Independence Day, celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Manila, which granted Philippine independence from the United States of America in 1946.
The Philippine Revolution was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year colonial rule of Spain in the archipelago. The Philippines was one of the last major colonies of the Spanish Empire, which had already suffered a massive decline in the 1820s. Cuba rebelled in 1895, and in 1898, the United States intervened and the Spanish soon capitulated. In June, Philippine revolutionaries declared independence. However, it was not recognized by Spain, which sold the islands to the United States in the Treaty of Paris.
The Philippine Declaration of Independence was proclaimed by Filipino revolutionary forces general Emilio Aguinaldo on June 12, 1898, in Cavite el Viejo, Philippines. It asserted the sovereignty and independence of the Philippine islands from the 300 years of colonial rule from Spain.
Independence Day is a national holiday in the Philippines observed annually on June 12, commemorating the declaration of Philippine independence from Spain in 1898. Since 1978, it has been the country's National Day.
The Philippine Republic, now officially remembered as the First Philippine Republic and also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire (1896–1898) and the Spanish–American War between Spain and the United States (1898) through the promulgation of the Malolos Constitution on January 23, 1899, succeeding the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines. It was formally established with Emilio Aguinaldo as president. It was unrecognized outside of the Philippines but remained active until April 19, 1901. Following the American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay, Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines, issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence on June 12, 1898, and proclaimed successive revolutionary Philippine governments on June 18 and 23 of that year.
The history of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946 is known as the American colonial period, and began with the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, when the Philippines was still a colony of the Spanish East Indies, and concluded when the United States formally recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.
This article covers the history of the Philippines from the recognition of independence in 1946 to the end of the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal that covered much of the Third Republic of the Philippines, which ended on January 17, 1973, with the ratification of the 1973 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines.
The Political Constitution of 1899, informally known as the Malolos Constitution, was the constitution of the First Philippine Republic. It was written by Felipe Calderón y Roca and Felipe Buencamino as an alternative to a pair of proposals to the Malolos Congress by Apolinario Mabini and Pedro Paterno. After a lengthy debate in the latter part of 1898, it was promulgated on January 21, 1899.
The sovereignty of the Philippines refers to the status of the Philippines as an independent nation. This article covers sovereignty transitions relating to the Philippines, with particular emphasis on the passing of sovereignty from Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Paris (1898), signed on December 10, 1898, to end the Spanish–American War. US President William McKinley asserted the United States' sovereignty over the Philippines on December 21, 1898, through his Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation.
The Insular Government of the Philippine Islands was an unincorporated territory of the United States that was established in 1902 and was reorganized in 1935 in preparation for later independence. The Insular Government was preceded by the Military Government of the Philippine Islands and was followed by the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
The Military Government of the Philippine Islands was a military government in the Philippines established by the United States on August 14, 1898, a day after the capture of Manila, with General Wesley Merritt acting as military governor. General Merrit established this military government by proclamation on August 14, 1898.
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