Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
T
he Battle for Manila in February 1945 and over the course of 29 days, 100,000 Filipinos
demonstrated the horrors of war. Japanese were killed. Historians assign the greater blame
forces under Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi to the Japanese troops instructed to instill terror
determined to hold the city and prevent General in the local population through starvation, torture,
Douglas MacArthur moving north toward Japan. and murder. It must also be acknowledged that the
The Admiral rejected General Yamashita and General advancing U.S. forces used heavy artillery to destroy
MacArthur’s call for an ‘open city’ which would have buildings and Japanese gun emplacements, killing
protected the million or more citizens of Manila. men, women and children caught in the crossfire.
Instead, he instructed his forces to fight to the last In the annals of World War II, the battle for Manila
man and die protecting the Emperor. MacArthur, stands at the nadir of human destruction.
on the other side, was determined to relieve the
What legacies can we take away from the battle
city and the thousands of prisoners of war, interned
and the struggle to create a postwar democratic
Americans, and other citizens. The clash was brutal
government in the Philippines? What were the
Asia
Program
underlying stresses as General MacArthur strove country toward independence. Upon his return
to give the Filipino people their independence? to Manila, the exiled Commonwealth president,
How did Philippine leaders balance American- Sergio Osmeña sought to reinstitute the American
styled liberal democracy against the Marxist pattern of education and expunge all remnants of
ideology of their own guerilla leaders who had Japanese indoctrination. He proposed the creation
fought tenaciously against the Japanese? In the of a People’s Court to investigate all Filipinos
aftermath of that war, what was the nature of the suspected of disloyalty or treason and he issued
U.S.-Philippine relationship and what tensions a victory currency to stabilize the economy. In
continue to this day? his mind, Philippine independence should arrive
on August 13, 1945 and in support of this, he
Manila, known as the Pearl of the Orient, was a emphasized that “It is part and parcel of that
city of decaying corpses, contaminated water, patriotic course to secure the rehabilitation of the
and stone rubble when the last Japanese left Philippines, the recognition of its independence,
the city on February 29, 1945. Those Filipino and the protection of that independence against all
families who had collaborated with the Japanese external aggression.” The U.S. Congress, however,
occupiers feared that the Americans would postponed the date for Philippine independence
put them on trial. They had grown up under a by 11 months.
Commonwealth, created by President Roosevelt
in 1935 to provide transitional governance from Another prominent man sought leadership of
colony to future independence. Under the the Philippines. During the war, Manuel A. Roxas
Commonwealth, Philippine leaders had copied had both collaborated with the Japanese and
U.S. political institutions, laws, and many of its provided critical information to MacArthur. This
liberal values. Their admiration for America was dual role gained the opprobrium of many of his
intense, but when Japan invaded in 1942, they own countrymen, but MacArthur’s admiration for
witnessed MacArthur retreat from the Philippines. his energy, relative youth, and intelligence. When
The landed elite survived by sharing their wealth MacArthur returned to Manila in 1945, Roxas
with the occupying army and either informing became his preferred candidate. So admired was
against or working with Philippine guerilla forces, the American general that critics quietened their
later to become the Hukbalahap or “Huks.” One grumblings about the ascendency of a man who
of their own, the former associate justice of the claimed to have fought with the Huks against
Commonwealth’s Supreme Court, Jose Laurel, the Japanese, despite the absence of supporting
became president of the “independent” Philippine evidence. Determined to complete the promised
Republic—a mere puppet of General Yamashita. independence, MacArthur ignored complaints that
More than half of the Commonwealth’s Senate he relied upon the ilustrados whose loyalty during
and over on-third of its House of Representatives the war was questionable. Instead, he looked for
served in the Japanese-sponsored regime. When men who could govern, invest and rebuild the
the war ended, intense debate surrounded the country. U.S. High Commissioner Paul McNutt
role that the ilustrados or Filipino elite should play questioned the speed with which MacArthur
in the future governance of their nation. sought to transfer governance, knowing the depth
and scope of the elite’s corrupt practices, but his
The post-war challenge facing both MacArthur word carried little weight against the 5-star general
and the Filipinos was who should lead their who had repelled the Japanese in the Pacific and