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 HareHawesCutting 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 TydingsMcDuffie 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 Osmea 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 Osmea 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 Jos 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 todays 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 NeoClassicism 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, Parsons 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 25hectare elliptical site for the Philippine Legislature, a 400-hectare quadrangle flanked by a new
Malacaang 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 Yorks 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 BUILDING
o

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 Tampincoa contemporary of Juan Luna and Jose Rizaland 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 PRISON

o

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.

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

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.

QUEZON CITY HALL

The 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.