Roxas cabinet
The Roxas Cabinet was formed in the Philippines on May 28, 1946 by President Manuel Roxas and was in office until the President's death on April 15, 1948. Roxas was elected in the first presidential elections after the Second World War and was characterized by pro-American politics and, in particular, strong financial and economic dependence on the USA .
Presidential elections on April 23, 1946
In the first presidential elections after the Second World War on April 23, 1946 candidate Manuel Roxas for from the liberal wing of the Nacionalista Party emerged Liberal Party and won 1,333,392 votes (53.94 percent). He was well ahead of the previous President Sergio Osmeña , who had applied for the Nacionalista Party, and who received 1,129,996 votes (45.71 percent). The defeated third was the candidate of the Modernist Party, Hilario Moncado , who had already applied in the presidential elections on November 11, 1941 and achieved only 0.35 percent with 8,538 votes. The result was similarly clear in the elections for the office of Vice President, from which Elpidio Quirino won 1,161,725 votes (52.36 percent) for the Liberal Party and also had a clear lead over the candidate of the Nacionalista Party, Eulogio Rodriguez , which got 1,051,243 votes (47.38 percent). The candidate for the Modernist Party, Luis Salvador, received 5,879 votes (0.26 percent).
Almost two weeks after his election, Roxas paid his first visit to the USA . He was received by US President Harry S. Truman , with whom he spoke in the presence of US Treasury Secretary Fred M. Vinson and US Deputy Secretary of State Dean Acheson about the granting of two major loans for government and legislative spending in the following negotiated five years.
Five weeks after the election, Roxas was sworn in by the Supreme Court President , Manuel Moran , on May 28, 1946, along with Vice President Quirino, in the presence of the US High Commissioner to the Philippines, Paul McNutt , while the Archbishop of Cebu , Gabriel Reyes , spoke the invocations. The President of the Senate , José Avelino , and the Speaker of the House of Representatives , Eugenio Pérez , also attended the inauguration .
cabinet
minister
On the evening of the inauguration on May 28, 1946, Roxas appointed his cabinet, which consisted of the following ministers, whose appointments were also confirmed by the Commission on Appointments of the Congress on May 28, 1946 :
| Ministerial office | Official | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Vice President | Elpidio Quirino | at the same time senior cabinet member On July 4, 1946 Quirino also took over the office of foreign minister |
| Finance minister | Elpidio Quirino Miguel Cuaderno |
Quirino: term of office May 1946-November 1946 Cuaderno: term of office November 1946 |
| Interior minister | Jose Zulueta | |
| Minister of Justice | Roman Ozaeta | |
| Minister for Agriculture and Trade | Mariano Garchitorena | |
| Minister for Public Works and Communication | Ricardo Nepomuceno | |
| Minister for Public Education | Manuel Gallego | |
| Minister for Health and Public Welfare | Antonio Villarama | |
| Minister of Labor | Pedro Magsalin | |
| Minister for National Defense | Ruperto Kangleon | |
| Minister in the Presidential Office | Emilio Abello |
Undersecretaries of State
The cabinet was supplemented by a number of undersecretaries:
| Ministry | Official | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign | Bernabe Africa | Appointed July 1946 |
| Finances | Crispin Llamado | Appointed June 1946 |
| Public teaching | Prudencio Langcauon | Appointed June 1946 |
| Judiciary | Felix Bautista Angelo | Appointed November 1946 |
Commissions
In addition, the government's work was supported by various commissions. Important commissions were:
| Commission | Chairman | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | Faustino Aguilar | Appointed June 1946 |
| household | Pio Pedrosa | Appointed June 1946 |
| External relations | Bernabe Africa | June to July 1946, then Undersecretary in the Foreign Ministry |
| Public service | Jose Gil | Appointed June 1946 |
| Rice and grain production | Felipe Buencamino, Jr. | December 1946 |
The policy of the Roxas government
Independence on July 4, 1946
On June 8, 1946, Roxas submitted the budget year 1946/1947 to Congress for a total of ₱ 253,752,788 . The large loans negotiated with the US were intended in particular to reduce the expected deficit of ₱ 247 million. He had previously commissioned the Philippine representative in the USA, Carlos P. Rómulo , to apply to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) for aid to reduce the emergency situation in the population caused by the Second World War. On June 17, 1946, Roxas also sent a military mission under the direction of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army , Colonel Calixto Duque , to the United States to hold talks at the US War Department about support for the training of the Philippine armed forces after independence on Run July 4, 1946.
With independence on July 4, 1946, the US domination of the Philippines that began in the Spanish-American War in 1898 ended . The independence ceremony took place in the presence of President Roxas, Vice President Quirino, the Commander in Chief in the Pacific War Douglas MacArthur , the US Senator from Maryland Millard Tydings , the US MP from Missouri C. Jasper Bell and High Commissioner Paul McNutt in front of around 3,000 guests of honor and 200,000 spectators . After independence, High Commissioner McNutt presented his letter of accreditation as the first US Ambassador to the Philippines, while Joaquín Miguel Elizalde was the first Ambassador of the Philippines to the US and the current Resident Representative in the US, Carlos P. Romulo, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in the rank became an ambassador. Previously, on July 3, 1946, the Senate and the House of Representatives gave the President their approval for the Philippine Trade Act , which, after the US Congressman C. Jasper Bell, was also known as the Bell Trade Act and regulated US payments to the Philippines. On July 12, 1946, Roxas set up a Council of State to advise the president. By virtue of office, this included the Vice President, the Ministers, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In addition, Roxas also appointed former President Sergio Osmeña and former Commonwealth Congress spokesman José Yulo as personal members. On July 27, 1946, the body of President Manuel Quezon, who died in the USA on August 1, 1944 , was transferred to the Philippines and after a mass held by the Apostolic Delegate in the Philippines, Guglielmo Piani , in the chapel of the University of Santo Tomas in buried in a state ceremony on August 1, 1946 in the North Cemetery of Manila.
Measures against the economic problems and relations with the USA
In August 1946, for the symbolic price of $ 1, the US government transferred ownership of 28,000 hectares to the Philippines , which had previously been owned by three Japanese development companies. In a five-day special session of Congress, President Roxas presented his new program for the country's economic development, which included the establishment of a rehabilitation finance corporation with a volume of ₱ 300,000,000. On October 22, 1946, Roxas and the US ambassador signed a treaty for general relations between the two countries in the Malacañang Palace.
On November 11, 1946, in addition to President Roxas and Vice President Quirino, Major General JG Christiansen, Commander of the US Army in the Western Pacific (AFWESPAC), and the Commander of the US Navy in the Philippines, Rear Admiral HH Good, attended the Armistice Day celebrations in Malacañang Palace part. On November 16, 1946, Vice President Quirino and US Ambassador McNutt signed a reconciliation treaty and an aviation agreement. On December 16, 1946, United States-Philippine War Damage Commission ( United States-Philippine War Damage Commission ) Chairman Frank A. Waring presented Roxas with a check for ₱ 10,000,000 for repairs to schools, hospitals, and other government buildings. On December 30, 1946, the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the death of José Rizal took place in Rizal Park in the presence of the President and Doña Trinidad Rizal, the only living sister of the national hero of the Philippines .
Attempted assassination in 1947
President Roxas signed a trade agreement with the United States on January 1, 1947. On January 7, 1947, Maj. Gen. George F. Moore , Commanding General of the US Forces in the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands (PHILRYCOM) presented Roxas with a US War Department check for ₱ 50,000,000 in compensation for assistance the Philippines in World War II. At a joint session of Congress on January 27, 1947, President Roxas gave a State of the Union address, particularly looking back at the first few months since independence. To advise on defense matters, a Council of National Defense was set up by order of the President , to which, in addition to the President, Vice-President and Ministers, the Senators Salipada K. Pendatun and Tomas Cabili as well as the MPs Juan S. Alano , Hermenegildo Atienza and Leandro A. Belonged to Tojong . Other members included the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Major General Rafael Jalandoni , the Chairman of the Veterans Service, Brigadier General Macario Peralta, Jr. , and Colonel Jose V. Andrada, Secretary of the Council. On February 2, 1947, the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation officially began its work , chaired by Primitivo Lovina . President Roxas submitted the draft budget for 1947/1948 to Congress on February 11, 1947, for a total of ₱ 227,397,283. This was offset by expected expenses of ₱ 269,000,000. On February 14, 1947, the President signed the Geneva Convention on the Alleviation of the Lot of Military Personnel Wounded in the Field Service . On February 23, 1947, a formal agreement was signed by President Roxas and the Archbishop of Manila , Michael James O'Doherty , to transfer eight church properties worth ₱ 5,630,000 to the Government of the Philippines .
On March 10, 1947, President Roxas, his wife and daughter Ruby narrowly escaped an attempted assassination in the Plaza Miranda near the Quiapo Church . One person was killed and five others were injured in the hand grenade attack by Julio Guillen from Tondo, Philippines .
Treaties with the USA and friendship treaties with Taiwan and Spain
One day later, on March 11, 1947, the so-called Parity Amendment was approved . This amendment to the Commonwealth Constitution of 1935 granted US citizens the same rights to use raw materials as the Filipinos and thus extensive economic rights. In the referendum, 432,933 voters (78.89 percent) voted in favor of this equality right, while 115,853 voters (21.11 percent) voted no. A decision of the Congress of September 18, 1946 was confirmed by the referendum. The Parity Amendment remained in effect until July 3, 1974.
The President also signed a treaty that offered the US Army, Air Force and Navy bases in the Philippines for a period of 99 years. Another agreement provided for the support of the Philippine armed forces by the US armed forces . On March 14, 1947, Minister of Agriculture and Trade Mariano Garchitorena and US Ambassador McNutt also signed a fisheries agreement, while McNutt and Vice President Quirino also signed a consular agreement. On March 22, 1947, the tenure of US Ambassador McNutt ended.
On April 18, 1947, President Roxas signed a friendship treaty with the Republic of China , represented by its envoy Chih-Ping Chen , which was only the second such treaty since independence after the friendship treaty with the United States. On May 7, 1947, under the chairmanship of Justice Minister Roman Ozaeta, the Civil Service Board of Appeals began its work. The chairman of the COMELEC ( Commission on Elections ) Jose Lopez Vito died on May 9, 1947. On May 12, 1947, further agreements with the USA were signed, namely a meteorological agreement by the Minister of Agriculture and Trade Mariano Garchitorena and Air Navigation, Coastal and Geodesy Conventions by the Minister for National Defense Ruperto Kangleon. The US was represented by the Embassy Chargé d'Affaires , Nathaniel Penistone Davis . On June 12, 1947, the previous US Congressman from Kentucky , Emmet O'Neal , became the new US Ambassador to the Philippines.
During a visit to Zamboanga City on September 13, 1947, the President expressed concern about the development of abaka production, which had been 720,000 bales before the Second World War and has now fallen to 290,000 bales. At the same time, during his visit to the southern Philippines on September 16, 1947, in Parang, in the presence of Salipada K. Pendatun, the first Muslim senator of the Philippines, he spoke to 20,000 Muslims, whom he promised protection and security. On September 27, 1947, Roxas and the envoy from Spain , Teodomiro Aguilar, signed a friendship treaty with the former colonial power . On November 24, 1947, the inaugural meeting of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ECAFE) took place in Baguio City , at which President Roxas gave the opening speech.
Senate elections in 1947 and death of the president on April 15, 1948
On November 11, 1947, additional elections to the Senate took place, in which eight of the 24 Senate seats were newly allocated. The Liberal Party of President Roxas emerged as the clear winner and won seven of the eight seats, while the Nacionalista Party only had one seat, which was occupied by Camilo Osias . Local and provincial elections were held at the same time.
On December 9, 1947 Roxas asked the US government to the extent provided by this veteran law that after the Congressman from Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives (and chairman of the Veterans Committee US House Committee on Veterans' Affairs ), Edith Nourse Rogers also Rogers Bill called was to provide care for sick and disabled Filipino veterans of the Second World War and also proposed the construction of four US hospitals in the Philippines, which should be built in Manila and Baguio on Luzon , Mindanao and the Visayas . In a press release on December 26, 1947, the president stated that the Philippines could secure its basic food supplies by expanding agricultural production. In particular, he stated that the government had a reserve of 1,000,000 Cavans rice.
On January 13, 1948, the president declined to speak to Luis Taruc , whose hukbalahap opposed the pro-American policies of Roxas. In a press release of March 6, 1948, Roxas outlawed the Hukbalahap and the National Building Union (PKM) ( Pambansang Kaisahan ng mga Magbubukid ).
On April 15, 1948 President Manuel Roxas died during the visit of the Thirteenth Air Force on the military airfield Clark Air Base in Pampanga province suffering a stroke . As a result, Vice President Elpidio Quirino, who was visiting Visayas, returned to Manila. There he was sworn in as the new President of the Philippines by the Acting President of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Paras . Quirino then ordered a month-long state mourning from April 17 to May 17, 1948.
Background literature
- Philippines since 1946 , in: The great Ploetz. The encyclopedia of world history. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, p., ISBN 978-3-525-32008-2 , p. 1773 ff.
Web links
- Roxas cabinet on the homepage of the Malacañang Palace
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elections of 1946 in Philippine Electoral Almanac (pp. 74-77)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: May 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: June 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ The Philippine Trade Act ( Bell Trade Act ) guaranteed the continuation of the economic dependency relationship until 1974. The importation of US-American goods was duty-free, while parity law controlled access to raw materials and export quotas for Philippine sugar, rice, tobacco, hemp and other agricultural products could be unilaterally determined by the US-Americans ( The great Ploetz. The Encyclopedia of World History. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, p., ISBN 978-3-525-32008-2 , p. 1773)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: July 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: August 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: September 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: October 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: November 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: December 1946 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: January 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: February 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ 1947 Plebiscite in Philippine Electoral Almanac (p. 79)
- ↑ At this time, the resistance of the Hukbalahap , who emerged from the struggle against the Japanese occupation power and led by the Communist Party, against the pro-American policies of President Manuel Roxas and his supporters from the oligarchy of 200 families, who dispose of over 90 percent of the national assets ( Der Große Ploetz. The encyclopedia of world history. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, S., ISBN 978-3-525-32008-2 , S. 1773)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: March 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: April 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: May 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: June 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: October 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: November 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: December 1947 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Legislative Elections of 1947 in Philippine Electoral Almanac (p. 78)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: January 1948 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: February 1948 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: March 1948 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)
- ↑ Official Month in Review: April 1948 ( Official Gazette of the Government of the Philippines)