The Japanese Period in

the Philippines
Prepared by:
Marilyn B. Balabag
The Transfer of the Commonwealth
Government to America
Pearl Harbor Bombing
 The Fall of Bataan and Corregidor
On December 8, 1941, the Japanese invades the
Philippines hours after bombing Pear Harbor in
Hawaii. While the forces of Gen. Douglas MacArthur
retreated to Bataan, the Commonwealth government
of President Quezon moved to Corregidor Island.
Manila was declared an open city to prevent further
destruction. After the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942
and Corregidor, In March 1942, MacArthur & Quezon
fled the country and by invitation of President
Roosevelt, the Commonwealth government went into
exile to Washington D.C. American and Filipino
forces surrendered in May 6, 1942.
As many as 10,000 people died in the
Bataan Death March.
 Life During the Japanese Period in the Philippine
• Japan launched a surprise
attack on the Clark Air Base in Pampanga, Philippines on
December 8, 1941, just ten hours after the
attack on Pearl Harbor. Aerial bombardment was followed by
landings of ground troops on Luzon. The defending Philippine
and United States troops were under the command of General
Douglas MacArthur. Under the pressure of superior numbers,
the defending forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula and to
the island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay.
The Huks

In the midst of fear and chaos, the

farmers of Pampanga banded together
and created local brigades for their
protection. Luis Taruc, Juan Feleo,
Castro Alejandrino, and other leaders of
organized farmers held a meeting in
February 1942 in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija.
In that meeting, they agreed to fight the
Japanese as a unified guerrilla army.
Another meeting was held the following
month, where in representatives from
Tarlac, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija
threshed out various details regarding
their organization, which they agreed to
call "Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga
Hapon" or HUKBALAHAP. Taruc was
chosen to be the Leader of the group,
The Puppet Government
On October 14, 1943, the
declaration of the
Philippine Independence
was read and the “Puppet
Republic” was formally
inaugurated. Jose P. Laurel
was declared as the
President of the “Puppet
Government”.
 The Japanese Influences in the Philippines
Negative Effects:
1. Many Filipinos, Americans, and Japanese died in
the battlefields. It was an all-out war in the air, on
land, and on water.
2. Hundreds of cities, towns, and barrios were
destroyed. Millions of dollars’ worth of property
were lost.
3. Economic activities during the war were limited.
Industry, commerce, and trade wee at a standstill.
Work animals decreased and agriculturesuffered.
Most of the people engaged in the buy –and-sell
buseness.
 Effects of Japanese Colonization
1. Subjects such as Japanese culture and Niponggo, a
Japanese language, were made compulsary
subjects in schools.
2. Different types of livelihood were taught in vocational
schools built by Japanese. They controlled the
industries, factories and food production.
3. Filipinos learned to engage in different business like
buy and sell and barter trade to earn a living.
4. Filipinos were encouraged to write on a condition that
they would use Tagalog as a medium.
5. The HUKBALAHAP or Hukbong Bayan Laban sa
Hapon tried to fight the Japanese.
 The Japanese Influences in the
Philippines
• Livelihood
• The Filipinos learned to engage in
diferent businesses like buy and sell
and barter trade to earn a living.
 The Japanese Influences in the
Philippines
• In Literature, Filipinos were encouraged to
write on a condition that they would use
Tagalog as medium. However, the writers
did not fully enjoyed the freeedom of
expresions.
 The Japanese Influences in the
Philippines
• Entertainment
 The Liberation of the Philippines
from the Japanese Occupation
By mid-December, the American soldiers had
reached Mindoro. The Japanese, meanwhile, secured
other area where their thought other American units
would land. Nevertheless, US liberation forces
successfully docked at Lingayen Gulf on January 9,
1945. The news alarmed the Japanese. Lt. Gen.
Tomoyuki Yamashita, supreme commander of the
Japanese troops in Manila, mobilize his kamikazes
(Japanese suicide pilots); but they failed to stop
Americans. The Japanese also deployed MAKAPILI
units to defend Manila but neither succeeds.
On December 8, 1944, President Laurel and his
cabinet moved to Baguio upon orders of Yamashita,
who is also known as the tiger of Malaya. The
Japanese forces retreated to Yamashita line a jungle
battlefront stretching along the Sierra Madre
Mountains from Antipolo, Rizal to Appari Cagayan.

The Japanese in Manila would not give up easily. In

fact, it took 3 weeks of intense fighting before they
finally surrendered on February 23. Gen. MacArthur
continued to liberate other parts of the country. And
finally proclaim general freedom from the Japanese
on July 4, 1945.
 The Third Republic
Independent Philippines and the Third
Republic (1946–1972)
 Administration of Manuel Roxas (1946-1948)
Elections were held in April 1946, with Manuel Roxas
becoming the first president of the independent
Republic of the Philippines. The United States ceded
its sovereignty over the Philippines on July 4, 1946, as
scheduled. However, the Philippine economy remained
highly dependent on United States markets. The
Philippine Trade Act, passed as a precondition for
receiving war rehabilitation grants from the United
States, exacerbated the dependency with provisions
further tying the economies of the two countries. A
military assistance pact was signed in 1947 granting
the United States a 99-year lease on designated
military bases in the country (the lease was later
reduced to 25 years beginning 1967).
 Administration of Elpidio Quirino (1948-1953)
The Roxas administration granted general amnesty to
those who had collaborated with the Japanese in World
War II, except for those who had committed violent
crimes. Roxas died suddenly of a heart attack in April
1948, and the vice president, Elpidio Quirino, was
elevated to the presidency. He ran for president in his
own right in 1949, defeating Jose P. Laurel and winning
a four-year term.
World War II had left the Philippines demoralized
and severely damaged. The task of reconstruction
was complicated by the activities of the Communist
-supported Hukbalahap guerrillas (known as
"Huks"),
Administration of Ramon Magsaysay (1953-1957)
President and Mrs.
Magsaysay with
Eleanor Roosevelt at the
Malacañang Palace.
Supported by the United States, Magsaysay was
elected president in 1953. He promised sweeping
economic reform, and made progress in land reform
by promoting the resettlement of poor people in the
Catholic north into traditionally Muslim areas. Though
this relieved population pressure in the north, it
heightened religious hostilities. Nevertheless, he was
extremely popular with the common people, and his
death in an airplane crash in March 1957 dealt a
serious blow to national morale.
who had evolved into a violent resistance
force against the new Philippine
government. Government policy towards
the Huks alternated between gestures of
negotiation and harsh suppression.
Secretary of Defense Ramon Magsaysay
initiated a campaign to defeat the
insurgents militarily and at the same time win
popular support for the government. The Huk
movement had waned in the early 1950s,
finally ending with the unconditional surrender
of Huk leader Luis Taruc in May 1954.
 Administration of Carlos P. Garcia (1957-1961)
Carlos P. Garcia succeeded to the presidency
after Magsaysay's death, and was elected to a
four-year term in the election of November that
same year. His administration emphasized the
nationalist theme of "Filipino first", arguing that
the Filipino people should be given the chances
to improve the country's economy.Garcia
successfully negotiated for the United States'
relinquishment of large military land
reservations. However, his administration lost
popularity on issues of government corruption
as his term advanced.
 Administration of Diosdado Macapagal
(1961-1965)

Diosdado Macapagal was elected president in the

1961 election, defeating Garcia's re-election bid.
Macapagal's foreign policy sought closer relations
with neighboring Asian nations, particularly Malaya
(later Malaysia) and Indonesia.[101] Negotiations with
the United States over base rights led to anti-
American sentiment.[101] Notably, the celebration of
Independence Day was changed from July 4 to
June 12, to honor the day that Emilio Aguinaldo
declared independence from Spain in 1898.
Marcos era and martial law (1965–1986)

The leaders of the SEATO nations in front of the Congress

Building in Manila, hosted by Philippine President Ferdinand
Marcos on October 24, 1966. (L-R:) Prime Minister Nguyen
Cao Ky (South Vietnam), Prime Minister Harold Holt
(Australia), President Park Chung-hee (South Korea),
President Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), Prime Minister
Keith Holyoake (New Zealand), Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu
(South Vietnam), Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn
(Thailand), President Lyndon B. Johnson (United States)
Macapagal ran for re-election in 1965, but was
defeated by his former party-mate, Senate President
Ferdinand Marcos, who had switched to the
Nacionalista Party. Early in his presidency, Marcos
initiated ambitious public works projects and
intensified tax collection which brought the country
economic prosperity throughout the 1970s. His
administration built more roads (including a
substantial portion of the Pan-Philippine Highway)
than all his predecessors combined, and more
schools than any previous administration.[104] Marcos
was re-elected president in 1969, becoming the first
president of the independent Philippines to achieve a
second term.
 Martial law
Amidst the rising wave of lawlessness and the threat of
a Communist insurgency, Marcos declared martial law
on September 21, 1972 by virtue of
Proclamation No. 1081. Marcos, ruling by decree,
curtailed press freedom and other civil liberties, closed
down Congress and media establishments, and
ordered the arrest of opposition leaders and militant
activists, including his staunchest critics senators
Benigno Aquino, Jr., Jovito Salonga and Jose Diokno.
The declaration of martial law was initially well
received, given the social turmoil the Philippines was
experiencing. Crime rates plunged dramatically after a
curfew was implemented.[108] Many political opponents
were forced to go into exile.
Marcos claimed that martial law was the
prelude to creating a "New Society" based on
new social and political values.The economy
during the 1970s was robust, with budgetary
and trade surpluses. The
Gross National Product rose from P55 billion
in 1972 to P193 billion in 1980. Tourism rose,
contributing to the economy's growth.
However, Marcos, his cronies and his wife,
Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, wilfully engaged
in rampant corruption.
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