independence would be attained by agreement
with the West was not fulfilled except on the
Indian continent and later in Malaya.
The US had never felt at ease as a colonial power,
and Americans had a bad conscience about the
forcible suppression of Filipino nationalism at the
turn of the century. Strategic considerations had
first taken the US navy to the Spanish Philippine
Islands in 1898, which, with a naval base in Manila
Bay, became America’s most advanced outpost in
the Pacific. For more than a century, the US
retained a strong presence in the Philippines.
For the US the economic benefits of colonial
possession were never sufficient, except to special-
interest groups, to dominate relationships. The
Philippines, moreover, were too distant and the
‘brown’ Filipino population too numerous – 6
million in 1900, 48 million in 1980 – to consider
their absorption in a racially conscious American
society. Self-government, and eventually some
form of independence, was therefore seen early on
as the only solution. As, colonial rulers, the
Americans were unique in virtually handing over
the administration of the country to its indigen-
ous population. By 1903, Filipinos held half the
US colonial appointments; by the close of the
1920s, virtually the whole of the colonial gov-
ernment in the Philippines was in the hands of
Filipinos.
Forty years of American control and tutelage
left an indelible mark on the Philippines. A
Filipino political and economic elite had devel-
oped, whose fortunes as landowners, merchants,
investors and industrialists were closely tied to
the US. Trade boomed with the opening of the
US market to Philippine exports and with US
investment in the islands themselves. From the
American point of view during the depression
years, economic preferential guarantees to the
Philippines were proving disadvantageous. There
were demands to restrict Philippine imports to
the US. The Philippines, not altogether willingly,
were being pushed towards independence in
the 1930s. The upper crust of Filipinos, who
gained so much from the American connection,
remained ambiguous about complete independ-
ence and sought a special American–Filipino rela-
tionship. Attempts to reconcile Filipino desire for
independence and the economic interests of the
Philippines and the US eventually led to the
promise in 1934 of independence after a twelve-
year transitional period. But in 1942 the Japanese
invasion brought the possibility of a transfer to a
halt. The barbarous occupation strengthened
American–Filipino bonds despite a Japanese
proclamation of Philippine ‘independence’ and
the existence of some Filipino collaborators.
When General MacArthur returned, he was hailed
with genuine enthusiasm by the great majority of
Filipinos who hated the Japanese. The destruction
caused by the war was enormous. One million
lives were lost, the economy shattered, most of
industry destroyed as well as agricultural produc-
tion reduced to ruin and Manila devastated.
American reoccupation did not, however,
usher in a tranquil period. The Americans upheld
the existing social order of the landowners and
the wealthy. The conservative post-1945 regime
established in the Philippines clashed with the
guerrillas, the Hukbalahap, or Huk for short. The
Huk guerrillas had first fought the Japanese as
well as their rivals. They retained their arms in
1945 and, to begin with, cooperated with
MacArthur. They wished to change Philippine
society radically, basing their power on the land-
less, debt-ridden peasants and urban poor. They
were also nationalists who wanted to end the
semi-colonial relationship with the US. Their
support in the country as a whole was not strong
in 1945 and they declared they were ready to par-
ticipate in elections and in the constitutional
process. With their aims of social revolution,
however, and their potential to engage in an
armed struggle, they were regarded by the con-
servatives who held power in the government as
a deadly danger to stability and order. The Huk’s
armed militia thus continued to pose a threat to
the prosperous Filipino leadership. As early as
1945, members of the Huk militia were executed
by the Filipino government.
The Communist Party of the Philippines took
part in the 1946 elections, but the six elected
deputies were disbarred from the Filipino Con-
gress. In 1946 drastic action was ordered against
the Huk rising of peasants, with a military sweep