COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT:

The Commonwealth of the Philippines was the administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946.

The Commonwealth was designed as a transitional administration in preparation for the country's full achievement of independence.

CREATION:

 In December 1932, the US Congress passed the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act with the premise of granting Filipinos independence but later opposed by Pres. Quezon and the Senate.

Provisions of the bill included reserving several military and naval bases for the United States, as well as imposing tariffs and quotas on Philippine exports.

This led to the creation and passing of a new bill known as Tydings–McDuffie Act, or Philippine Independence Act, which allowed the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines with a ten-year period of peaceful transition to full independence.

Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña of the Nacionalista Party were proclaimed the winners, winning the seats of president and vice-president.

WORLD WAR II:

Japan launched a surprise attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941. Manila was declared an open city to prevent its destruction, and it was occupied by the

Japanese on January 2, 1942. Quezon and Osmeña were escorted by troops from Manila to Corregidor, and later they left

for Australia and then the U.S.  The Japanese military organized a new government in the Philippines known as the Second

Philippine Republic, which was headed by President José P. Laurel, the “Puppet Government.”

The American General Douglas MacArthur's army landed on Leyte on October 20, 1944. Fighting continued in remote corners of the Philippines until Japan's surrender in August

1945. After the War in the Philippines the Commonwealth was restored and a one-year transitional

period in preparation for independence began. Elections followed in April 1946 with Manuel

Roxas winning as the first president of the independent Republic of the Philippines.

Many of today’s institutions in our government trace their origins to the Commonwealth. These include:

Executive Office (1935) Court of Appeals (1935) Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (1936) National Bureau of Investigation (1936) Department of Budget and Management (1936) Government Service Insurance System (1936) Department of National Defense (1939)

Department of Health (1940) New Bilibid Prisons (1940) Presidential Communications Operations Office (from the Department of Information and

Public Relations, 1943) Boy Scouts of the Philippines Girl Scouts of the Philippines National Food Authority National Economic Development Authority (originally National Economic Council, 1936) Bureau of Immigration and Deportation ROTC system Bureau of Aeronautics (1936 ;now the CAAP) Philippine Military Academy Philippine Air Force Articles of War (AFP) Comelec Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces

Chartered Cities:

Cebu City (1937) Bacolod (1938) Quezon City (1939) Davao City (1936) Cavite City (1940) Iloilo City (1937) San Pablo City, Laguna (1940) Zamboanga City (1936)

Policies:

All Filipino Supreme Court (1935) State of the Nation Address (1935) Minimum Daily Wage (1936) National Language (1939)

ARCHITECTURE DURING THE COMMONWEALTH

By the mid 20`s to the eve of the second world war, Beaux Art, Art Deco and Neo-Classicism became the bi-word for Philippine Architecture with works such as the Metropolitan Theatre, Crystal Arcade and Avenue Theatre along Avenida Rizal, Lide and Times Theatre along Quezon Boulevard and others.

Drew inspiration from sinuous flowery Art Noveau forms, Egyptian art, native American art

FILIPINO ADAPTATION:

Filipino architects, responding to the tropical environment, softened the severe Western architectural style. Thin concrete slabs broke flat facades, protruding from unadorned wall surfaces to protect door and window openings from torrential monsoon rain and hot sun.

For increased air circulation in the hot and humid Philippine tropics, windows were enlarged, and geometric hand-wrought iron grilles covered openings cut into the exterior walls for ventilation.

The wall of translucent glass blocks so typical of 1930s Art Deco architecture has a tropical twist at Far Eastern University.

NOTABLE ARCHITECTURE:

o Master Plan of Quezon City New Capital City on the main site of Quezon

City in Diliman He summoned the original consulting architect

of the Philippines William E. Parsons to survey and advise about the two sites. Unfortunately he died later that year.

Pres. Quezon put together a team consisting of Filipino architect Juan Arellano, American planner Harry Frost, Parson’s former partner in the US, landscape architect Louis Croft and engineer AD Williams to thresh out the plans for the new capital

1941 Frost Arellano plan for Quezon City was a grand plan that had major components in a 25-hectare elliptical site for the Philippine Legislature, a 400-hectare quadrangle flanked by a new Malacañang and a Courts complex, and a 900-hectare University of the Philippines set in a park

setting.

The core of the new city was to be a 400-hectare central green, about the size of New York’s Central Park, and defined by North, South (Timog), East and West Avenues. On one corner of the proposed Diliman Quadrangle was delineated a 25-hectare elliptical site.

o CORREGIDOR:

There were 65 miles (105 km) of paved roads and trails on the island and 19.5 miles (31.4 km) of electric railroad track.

The Corregidor High School was where children of both Filipino and American servicemen assigned on the island studied.

The island also had an electric trolley system as public transport, a movie house (Cine Corregidor), a baseball field and a swimming pool. The business and social center of this community was found on Topside.

Fortifications

There were 23 batteries installed on

Corregidor, consisting of 56 coastal guns

and mortars.

o PHILIPPINE CHARITY

SWEEPSTAKES BUILDINGo With the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, the loteria was

forced to stop operations. And it was not until the early 1930s

that the idea of holding lottery games was revived.

o Old Legislative Building (National Museum of the

Philippines

The old Legislative Building is the best example of neo-classical architecture in the Philippines.

The Legislative Building was completed in 1926 and was inaugurated on July 11 of the same year.

"The most impressive features of the hall, taking full advantage of the architectural space, are undoubtedly the series of Corinthian columns and pilasters, the main wall above the rostrum with its fretwork and garlands, and most of all, the sculptural groupings surrounding the top of the hall.”

Isabelo Tampinco—a contemporary of Juan Luna and Jose Rizal—and his sons Angel and Vidal. Tampinco gave full rein to his deep knowledge of classical sculpture, as well as to his personal artistic mission of Filipinizing many of the traditionally Western elements and motifs of

the neoclassical style.

o NEW BILIBID PRISONo The Old Bilibid Prison, then known as Carcel y Presidio

Correccional (Spanish, "Correctional Jail and Military Prison") occupied a rectangular piece of land which was part of the Mayhalique Estate in the heart of Manila.

o Due to increasing crime, the Philippine Government enacted

Commonwealth Act No. 67 and a new prison was built in Muntinlupa on 551 hectares of land at an area considered at that time to be "remote". Construction began in 1936 with a budget of one million pesos.

o PHILIPPINE MILITARY ACADEMY The Philippine Military Academy traces own its history back to the Academia Militar which

was established on October 25, 1898 in Malolos, Bulacan. An Officer's School of the Philippine Constabulary was established on February 17, 1905

within the walls of Intramuros in Manila. This school was later relocated to Baguio on September 1, 1908. After the Philippine Legislature passed Act No. 3496 on September 8,

1926, the school was renamed the Philippine Constabulary Academy and courses were lengthened from nine months to three years.

o MANILA CITY HALL In 1941, right before the destruction of Manila, a City

Hall of a national capital was constructed. This was designed by Antonio Toledo, the same architect who built the Finance Building and Old Legislative Building which are both adjacent to the new City Hall. It was

immediately destroyed by the war in February 1945.

o QUEZON CITY HALLThe very first City Hall of Quezon City was erected by Acting Mayor Ponciano Bernardo at a cost of ₱80,000 on December 24, 1946 on a land own by then Assemblyman Dr. Valentin Afable of Zambales, who used the house and compound as

makeshift field hospital during the Second World War.

Other buildings: A school building build in Midsayap town, North

Cotabato in 1936 Honored as the oldest structure in the province

Withstood the ravages of World War II in the 1940s and the Mindanao Moro uprising in the 1970s.