JOURNAL NO. 139

EL PRESIDENTE: Lease la lista de Delegados.

MR. ESCAREAL: I move that the reading of the list be dispensed with.

THE PRESIDENT: Is there any objection? (After a pause.) The Chair hears none. There is a quorum.

APROBACION DEL ACTA

El Secretario lee el acta de la sesión anterior, la cual es aprobada.

EL PRESIDENTE: Lease la Resolucion de gratitud al Presidente y Congreso de Jos Estados Unidos.

EL SECRETARIO:

CONVENCION CONSTITUCIONAL
P. R. C. C. No. 75

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Sometido por los Delegados Kapunan, Reyes J, Grafilo, Gullas,
Nepomuceno R., y Abella

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R E S O L U C I O N

Expresando la GRATITUD Y APRECIO DE LA CONVENCION CONSTITUCIONAL Y DEL PUEBLO FILIPINO AL GOBIERNO Y PUEBLO DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, POR LA APROBACION DE LA LEY QUE CONCEDE LA INDEPENDENCE A FILIPINAS.

Por cuanta, el Congreso de los Estados Unidos de America, el 24 de marzo de 1934, aprobo la ley No. 1227, conocida por Ley Tydings-McDuffie, qué concede la completa independencia de las Islas Filipinas y dispone la adopcion de una Constitucion para dichas Islas: For tanto.

Se resuelve: Qué la Convencion Constitucional exprese como por la presente expresa, en su nombre y en el del pueblo filipino, su profunda gratitud al Gobierno y pueblo de los Estados Unidos, y a todos cuantos ban defendido la causa de la libertad del pueblo filipino, por la oportunidad qué se le ha ofrecido de escribir su Constitucion y ser una nacion independiente.

Se resuelve también, qué se envie copia de esta Resolucion, por conducto de los Comisionados Kesidenies, al Presidents y Congreso de los Estados Unidos.

EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Hay alguna objeción a esta Resolucion? (Silencio.) La Mesa no oye ninguna. Aprobada por unanimidad.

Lease la siguiente Resolucion.

CONSTITUCIONAL CONVENCION
P. R. C. C. No. 110

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Introduced by Delegates Ventura and Gullas

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RESOLUTION

APPOINTING A COMMITTEE TO GO TO WASHINGTON, D. C., TO FORMALLY PRESENT THE CONSTITUTION ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION.

RESOLVED, That Hon. Claro M. Recto, President of the Convention, and Hon. Manuel Roxas, Delegate for Capiz, together with such other members of the Convention as may be designated by the President thereof, be appointed as a Committee to go to Washington, D. C., to formally present the Constitution of the Philippines adopted by the Convention, with a view to securing action thereon as provided in Public Act Numbered one hundred and twentyseven of the Congress of the United States, approved March twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and thirty four.

PAULINO GULLAS
Delegate from Cebu

Francisco Ventura
Delegate from Ilocos Norte
Manila, February 6, 1935.

EL PRESIDENTE: Tiene la palabra el Delegado por Ilocos Norte, Señor Ventura.

MR. VENTURA: Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: We are assembled on this occasion to perform the last solemn act of our task. Within the next few moments we shall sign our names on the Constitution, an act that will be consecrated in the hearts of the Filipino people. And as we affix our signatures let it be with fervent prayer upon our lips that it shall endure through the ages as the bulwark of the rights and liberties of our people, and that it will be the last Constitution that they will adopt and swear to uphold and defend. Let the signing be a solemn pledge from each one of us—with these magnificent walls that reechoed many a passionate cry for independence as mute witnesses — that there will be no turning back from the straight, narrow and rugged path we have chosen toward absolute and complete independence.

This occasion is memorable. It will go down in history as marking the birth of a new nation. The Constitution we have drafted is the fruit of our peaceful fight for independence for the last twenty-eight years since the establishment of the first Philippine Assembly. It embodies the dreams, aspirations and ideals of a liberty-loving people. Every line of it is a testimony that we have kept faitt with our forebears who offered their lives on the altar of freedom.

thus we are here today silhouetted against an epic past, with the historic Barasoain Church as the setting. There thirty-six years ago, when the people were still suffering from the ravages of war that suppressed the tyranny of Spain in these Islands, the revolutionary convention met and drafted a constitution that gave birth to the first Republic in the Orient. That constitution, consecrated by the blood of those who had fallen on the fields of battle, has been to us a constant inspiration for a peaceful but unremitting campaign for the restoration of our independence.

Today the Constitution which bears the impress of our faith and solidarity as a people and of our unswerving loyalty to the independence cause, is nonetheless consecrated because it has come into being under an atmosphere of peace and mutual confidence with the American people. It is inspired and consecrated by the same spirit that sanctified the Malolos Constitution; it is doubly consecrated by the spirit of self-sacrifice, tolerance and patriotism of the Members of the Convention who set aside personal ambitions, sectionalism, and party prejudices to make this Constitution a real expression of the character, life and will of the whole nation.

Mr. President, we have chosen this solemn occasion to present this resolution that will designate the Members of this august Body, who will formally present the draft of our Constitution to the President of the United States. It is meet, since we have finished our task and we are about to sign the Constitution, that we make a formal designation of the official representation of the Constitutional Convention in the Parliamentary Mission which will depart tomorrow for the American to discuss the future relations between the United States and the Philippines. Two outstanding leaders of the country, Sen. Claro M. Recto and Representative Roxas, were chosen members of the mission to represent the Philippine Legislature. Inasmuch as they are also Members of the Convention, we shall have the best and happiest choice if we designate them the official representatives of this august Body to present the draft of the Constitution to the President of the United States.

Mr. President, the Gentleman from Batangas, the Honorable Claro M. Recto, was a Member of the Independence Mission to the United States in 1925. The Gentleman from Capiz, the Honorable Manuel A. Roxas, was thrice a member of the Independence Missions to the United States. On the pages of Philippine contemporary history is emblazoned their brilliant and patriotic work for our national cause. They were sent to the Convention by opposing banners. But Delegate Roxas supported the election of Delegate Recto as the President of the Convention. Brushing aside all party prejudices, he pledged his unstinted cooperation with President Recto. With the best interests of his country uppermost in his heart, Delegate Roxas cooperated, as no other man ever did, with every one in the Convention thereby making our work a success and producing a Constitution that will promote the peace, prosperity and happiness of the Filipino people.

In preparing the Constitution, President Recto directed the work of the Convention with singular ability. Delegate Roxas, as a member of the Committee of Seven and other committees, contributed to the drafting of the Constitution the best of his experience as a legislator and statesman.

President Recto followed every step in the preparation of the Constitution. He discussed important provisions of the Conatitution not only with the leaders of both parties of the Convention but also with almost every .member thereof so that doubtful questions were clarified and conflicting views reconciled. In elucidating the ideas and principles involved in the provisions of the Constitution, he showed his perspicacity as a jurist and his broad vision as a statesman. He guided the delegates in the policies to be adopted and in the principles to be upheld.

Delegate Roxas, both in the committee meetings and on the floor of the Convention, expounded principles of constitutional law or political science with admirable mastery. He defended or opposed propositions or precepts in the Constitution with force and irresistible logic. Gifted with peerless wit, eloquence and forceful logic of a seasoned parliamentarian. Delegate Recto always carried the Assembly in deciding fundamental issues. Both President Recto and Delegate Roxas went over every line in the Constitution as they helped in the revision work of the Committee on Style. Both are familiar with the motive, the principle or philosophy underlying every precept in the Constitution. In them surges the same spirit that pervades the whole Constitution, and it cannot be otherwise because the same spirit has always animated them in the libertarian labors for our country.

Because of his long contact with American political leaders, Delegate Roxas is familiar with their reaction to new theories or political philosophies embodied in our Constitution. President Recto, with his unequalled tact, will undoubtedly help overcome any possible objections to the novel provisions in our Constitution. Both are lawyers, gifted with eloquence, experienced as legislators, statesmen of vision, patriots of untarnished devotion to the great cause of their country. Delegate Recto and Delegate Roxas will make the ablest and happiest team in presenting to the President of the United States the views of the Convention on the provisions of the Constitution. With them as our official representatives in the Mission we can be sure that they will secure an early and favorable action on our Constitution by the President of the United States, thus hastening the establishment of the Commonwealth.

For these considerations, I request approval of the resolution by unanimous consent of the Convention.

MR. BUENO: Mr. President, for a parliamentary inquiry. Will the travelling expenses of Members designated by the President to go with the official nominees of the Convention be defrayed by the Government?

THE PRESIDENT: The inquiry is unnecessary, Delegate from Ilocos Sur. The Chair has nothing to state regarding the inquiry.

EL PRESIDENTE: Leanse las Resoluciones.

EL SECRETARIO:

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

TO PROVIDE FOR THE PRINTING OF THE JOURNAL AND THE RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

RESOLVED, that the Secretary of the Convention be, and he hereby is, authorized and directed to take charge of the printing of the Journal and Record of proceedings of the Constitutional Convention under the supervision of the President after adjournment thereof.

Adopted.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

DECLARING THE MINUTES OF THE SESSION OF TODAY FEBRUARY NINETEEN, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE, TO HAVE BEEN READ AND APPROVED.

RESOLVED, that the President be, as he hereby is, authorized to review and approve the minutes of the session of today, February nineteen, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, and that upon approval by him said minutes shall be as valid and effective for all purposes as if they had been approved directly by this Constitutional Convention.

Adopted.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
R. NO. 38

RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE ADJOURNMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, TODAY, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY NINETEEN, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE.

RESOLVED, That the Constitutional Convention be. bs it hereby is, adjourned today, Tuesday, February nineteen, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, to meet again at the call of the President of the Convention as may be required in accordance with law.

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Governor General be, as he hereby is, advised of the adjournment of the Constitutional Convention, with the request that he inform the President of the United States that the Constitutional Convention has adjourned today, Tuesday, February nineteen, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, after the signing of the Constitution of the Philippines which will be formally presented to him by a committee of this Convention.

Adopted.

I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was adopted by the Constitutional Convention on February 19, 1935. SECRETARY

EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Hay alguna objeción a esta Resolucion? (Silencio.) La Mesa no oye ninguna. Adoptada.

MR. PEREZ (T.) : Mr. President, I move that immediately prior to the signing of the Constitution by the Honorable Members of this Convention, this Body dedicate a moment of silence, pause and respect in memory of the heroes and martyrs of Philippine liberty.

SR. GUZMAN (A.) : Señor Presidente, para una enmienda. Propongo qué sea incluido el Delegado por Masbate, Señor Aguilar.

EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Hay alguna objeción a la enmienda? (Silencio.) La Mesa no oye ninguna. Aprobada. ¿Hay alguna objeción a la moción tal como ha quedado enmendada? (Silencio) La Mesa no oye ninguna Aprobada.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Delegate Roxas, Gentlemen of the Convention: as we affix our signatures to this Constitution, my fervent desire is that our countrymen should understand that the government which we shall establish upon the philosophy and the precept of this fundamental law will not be of itself a panacea to our difficulties and hardships.

We are just beginning to undertake graver responsibilities inherent to every independent government. We must be ready to shoulder them, be they increased a thousandfold when the Philippine Republic is proclaimed. Gentlemen of the Convention, all of us must be aware of these responsibilities and every citizen, rich and poor, mighty or lowly, governor or governed, must be prepared to do his part. Let us in this fateful hour fully realize” that the Faherland expects from his sons, without any exception, their unquestioning loyalty and their unfaltering devotion. Let it be known to all that the cause of that sacrosanct ideal of liberty for which our heroes and martyrs gave their blood and their lives compels us to move forward with unshaken faith in our destiny.

I thank you.

We shall now proceed to sign the Constitution.

In accordance with the motion of the Delegate from Albay (Mr. Perez, T.), approved by the Assembly, let us pause for a moment in memory of our heroes and martyrs.

(El Presidente cede el estrado al Delegado Sr. Romualdez.) ^*

EL SECRETARIO: Señor Castro.

SR. CASTRO: Señor Presidente, yo suplico se me permita firmar con esta pluma qué tengo en mi podery regalada por la familia de Don Marcelino de Santos, Comisario General del Ejercito filipino de la Republics de Malolos.

EL PRESIDENTE INTERINO (Sr. Romualdez): Sí no hay objeción. puede el Delegado por Ilocos Norte proceder a firmar.

(El Sr. Castro estampa su firma en la Constitucion.)

EL SECRETARIO:

Señor Ventura

Señor Perfecto

Señor Lorenzo. (Despues de firmar el Sr. Lorenzo.)

SR. RAFOLS: Señor Presidente, parece qué el Caballero de Lanao no ha sido llamado. Deseamos saber si el quiere firmar o no la Constitucicn.

EL PRESIDENTE INTERINO: Ha sido llamado ya el Caballero de Lanao.

MR. CABILI: I called the attention of the Chair that ray name was not called, but I was not given a chance tfl explain. I want to know if my name has been dropped from the list of Delegates.

EL PRESIDENTE INTERINO: Estámos en el momento de firmar y no se permite ninguna interpelacion.

MR. CABILI: Mr. President, I would like to appeal from the decision of the Chair, and I desire that my name be called if I am still a Delegate.

SR. RAFOLS: Es privilegio de todo Delegado, de todo Miembro de esta Asamblea, el qué sea llamado en esta ocasion. El Señor Cabili tiene tanto derecho como nosotros a firmar o no esta Constitucion.

EL PRESIDENTE INTERINO: El Secretario informa qué fue llamado ya el Señor Cabili y no se digno firmar la Constitucion.

MR. CABILI: I precisely called the attention of the Secretary that my name was not called.

SR. ORENSE: Señor Presidente, aprobada ya, corao ha sido, la Resolucion de levantamiento de la sesión, no se puede ya tratar de ninguna materia, por lo qué no este en orden ninguna moción, y pido al Presidente qué deje la Mesa porque ya no hay sesión.

MR. CABILI: Whatever be the decision of the Convention, I make it of record that I was not given a chance to explain my stand and I had been denied that right. I want to make this emphatic because I am still a Delegate

LEVANTAMIENTO DE LA SESION

SR. ENRIQUEZ: Señor Presidente, pido qué se levante la sesión.

VARIOS DELEGADOS: (a la vez) Secundo la moción.

EL PRESIDENTE INTERINO: Habiendose presentado la moción de levantamiento de la sesión y estando debidamente secundada, se levanta la sesión.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
MANILA
COMMITTEES APPOINTED
August 3, 1934

COMMITTEE ON STYLE
Chairman

The President of the Convention

Ex-Officio Members

The Members of the Committee of Seven who prepared the Draft of the Constitution.

ADDRESS OF SENATOR MILLARD E. TYDINGSBEFORE THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTIONALCONVENTION(December 22, 1934)

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Constitutional Convention and citizens of the Philippine Islands:I am grateful for your kind invitation to address this Convention for it offers an appropriate opportunity to discuss our past common relationship and to consider the problems of the future incident to the independence of the Philippine Islands.For more than three decades, our two countries and peoples, though separated by thousands of miles, have enjoyed economic and political union. During that period both countries have traveled far along the highway of progress. We are now approaching a permanent dissolution of our present relationship. Therefore, it is fitting and wise that we counsel together and, in an atmosphere of an unalloyed truth and complete frankness, search for the means and measures most likely to achieve our avowed purposes.

HISTORICAL

The United States of America did not secure possession of the Philippine Islands by deliberate design. Our sovereignty here was a consequence of armed hostility, the cause of which was ten thousand miles from the City of Manila. At the conclusion of that conflict, through a series of unforeseen events, the Philippine Islands became a part of the territory of the United States.However, at the very start of our sovereignty, a national policy was declared that our control and possession of the Islands would be but temporary, that eventually after law and order and a stable self-government were established over a period of years, we would relinquish all rights, control and sovereignty over the Filipino people. This national policy, uttered over thirty years ago, has been reiterated by every President of the United States since the administration of President McKinley.In 1916, the Congress of the United States formally proclaimed it through the enactment of the Jones Law.This year, upon the open, direct and specific request of the Filipino people, who sent representatives to Washington to obtain it, the Government of the United States, in spite of the great difficulties attendant upon it, enacted a law which provides for complete and absolute independence for the people of the Philippine Islands within a. definite and short period of time.I repeat that this action was part of the American policy of thirty-four years standing, but, more particularly, action was taken at this time upon the insistent request of the authorized representatives of the Filipino people who were sent to Washington to obtain the enactment of the Independence Law.Following the passage of that Law, commonly known as the Tydings-McDuffie Act, its provisions were considered and discussed by the Filipino Legislature, which accepted it for and on behalf of the Filipino people on May 1, 1934.

THE TYDINGS-MCDUFFIE ACT

Naturally, in the enactment of the Independence Law, there were many differing opinions for the disposition of the matter. There were those who thought that immediate independence was best; others wanted the independence question postponed for twenty-five years; still others held that independence should not be considered at all at this time.After extensive hearings, the time limit of approximately twelve years from the date of the enactment of the Law was thought to offer the best opportunity to carry out the national policy of the United States and to accede to the Filipino people’s request for definite action.The Law, itself, among ether things, provides for certain mandatory provisions in the now Philippine Constitution prior to actual independence; for submission of that Constitution to the President of the United States for his approval; then for submission of the Constitution to the Filipino people for their approval; for matters affecting international treaties and property rights; for political relations of the Islands with the United States pending complete independence; for recognition of the Filipino people’s independence and for the withdrawal of American sovereignty over the Islands; for the neutralization of the Philippines; for notification to foreign governments of actual and complete independence; for tariff duties before and after independence; for Filipino immigration to Continental United States; for the payment of the Philippine bonded indebtedness, the payment of which has been morally guaranteed by the United States of America, and for other matters of equal import.Like all legislative matters, the Independence Act may have its imperfections, yet it is doubtful if another could be drawn, which, as a whole, would accomplish the objects desired and which would have been at that time acceptable to both the American and Filipino peoples.

EXPORT TAX AND PAYMENT OF PHILIPPINEBONDED INDEBTEDNESS

The export-tax provisions of the Independence Law soon evoked the most discussion in the Islands. It is well to note that these export-tax provisions were inserted to accomplish the three following purposes: first, to settle accounts completely between the Philippines and the United States when actual independence is obtained, so that the United States might not be kept in the position of guaranteeing the payment of another country’s obligation, in which country it has no voice in the conduct of affairs; second, the payment of this debt will start the independent Filipino nation upon its way free of all indebtedness whatsoever, and hence place the new Filipino nation in the strongest position possible for the settlement of existing independence problems and for conducting the affairs, both internal and external, of an entirely newly born country; third, for five years the export tax does not apply to Filipino products.These taxes begin and increase on the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth years. After ten years, export taxes will necessarily have to be paid by Filipino producers, many times greater than the export taxes, whenever the Filipino people send their products to the United States for sale there. Such taxes are now paid by producers of all other countries upon the entry of their products into the United States. Obviously, therefore, the imposition of the export taxes will commence to prepare the Filipino producer for the situation which will confront him, when as a citizen of an independent country, he desires to continue to sell his products in the United States. To make no provision for such a contingency and to have it all fall upon the shoulders of the Filipino producers at one time would be cruel and inhuman and cause hardships which a gradual infliction of such taxes will, to some extent, mitigate.I repeat that to provide for all the manifold problems in an independent law was not easy. However, every attempt was made to do .so with the aims of both nations in view and so as to accomplish the desired results in the shortest period of time and with the least injury to both peoples concerned.

RECORD OF THE UNITED STATES IN THEPHILIPPINES

Here, in the presence of this Convention, engaged in writing a Constitution which, it is hoped, will be of help, I cannot keep from feeling a deep sense of pride in the large and unselfish contribution and accomplishment the United States has made to the Filipino people. You have been given ordered and modern liberty without coercion; unprecedented prosperity without exploitation; and, with those gifts, you have been furnished national defense of your property and people without any cost to, aid from or responsibility of, your provisional government.Humanity and progress have marked our past relationship. America’s real heart, real intention and worthwhile contributions are plainly written today in the law and order which prevails in these Islands and in the prosperous contentment plainly visible in the faces of the Filipino people. I doubt if what has been done in the Philippine Islands has been matched before by any country in all the pages of the world’s history.

ECONOMIC FACTORS IN THE PAST

We are now about to cover this dual relationship. At a not distant date your country and mine wilt walk in separate highways down the corridors of the future. As you move through the transition period of the Commonwealth Government and into the phase of complete and absolute independence, the pathway at times will be difficult. Much of this difficulty is unavoidable economy which now becomes necessary upon the part of the Philippine Islands.Since 1909 products produced in the Philippine Islands have been admitted free — without the payment of any import taxes at all — into the United States of America. With actual independence these free markets will be closed as they are now closed to all other countries except the Philippine Islands. This will call for a rearrangement of the economic life of the Filipino people. Let me point out how important these free markets are to the workers and producers of the Philippine Islands.In 1933 the Philippine Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources stated that the total value of our entire agricultural production was two hundred eighty-four million pesos. It also reported that of this production worth one hundred seventy-four million pesos was shipped ana sold to the United States. In other words, sixty per cent o± the entire agricultural production of the Philippine Islands in the year 1933 was sold in the free markets of the United States, and only forty per cent was consumed at home or sold elsewhere. Bear in mind that this agricultural production came from the Philippine Islands without the payment of any tax whatsoever when it entered the United States. After independence this will not be the case. For the past twenty-five years the Filipino people have had easy access to the richest market in the world; and in that market you have enjoyed both a visible and invisible balance of trade. The visible balance of trade arising from the exchange of products between the Philippines and the United States, not including goods amounting to about sixty million pesos a year over many years, is in your favor. This shows that you have sold us sixty million pesos per year more of your products than you have bought of products from the United States of America. This caused a flow of wealth from the United States to the Philippine Islands, which has made your people prosperous and which has raised the standards of living here to a point which, I believe, is greater that that of any other people in the Orient.Moreover, it has permitted the Filipino people, with the encouragement and help and financial guarantees of the United States Government, to build highways, construct railroads, build hospitals and improve health, create parks and playgrounds, establish a system of education so that the masses might taste of its benefits, to own landa and homes and the necessities, in most cases, which are demanded by prosperous peoples everywhere.During this period of time American officials and employees were being gradually supplanted in government offices by Filipinos. While the whole progressive pattern was being woven, you have not had to bear a single centavo of the cost of full and complete national defense of the United States Army and Navy, which has been at your service. The officers and men and equipment of this military and naval establishment, supported entirely by the people and resources of the United States, cost the American taxpayer about two-thirds of every tax peso which he pays to the Government of the United States. They have been available nevertheless without financial cost to you to protect and defend the Philippine Islands whenever your territory is in danger.

ECONOMIC FACTORS OF THE FUTURE

With the coming of independence the American market which I have shown has contributed so much to Fili-pino progress and prosperity will be closed to your people, except upon the payment of tariff taxes on the products you sell to us. Again, the problem of national defense, like all problems of national existence for independent nationalism, will become one alone for the new Filipino GovernmentFortunately, there is a period of from ten to twelve years to prepare for and cushion the pending economic dislocation. In order that we may deal with this matter in an atmosphere of complete frankness and candor, I am taking the liberty to point out some of these difficulties in the hope that this will be helpful and the hurtful economic consequences resulting from a non-consideration of these matters will be reduced to the fullest extent.Let me illustrate some of these trade and market difficulties which must faced. I have already pointed out that only last year you sold to the United States, free of any import taxes, sixty per cent of the entire agricultural production of the Philippine Islands. Now, for the three years of 1931, 1932, and 1933 you sold to the people of the United States commodities consisting of cane sugar, coconut oil, coconut meat, copra oil cake and meal, cordage of Manila hemp, cotton wearing apparel, cotton laces and embroidery, fiber hats, cigars and cheroots, tobacco, cabinet wood, pearl and shell buttons, pineapples and other items. During this three-year period the total sales of these products to the people of the United States amounted to five hundred twenty-two million pesos (P522,000,000) nearly all of which was sold without the payment of any tax to us whatsoever because you are now a part of the United States of America.Had you been then an independent country, during this same three-year period, you would have had to pay, like all other independent countries, on this five hundred twenty-two million pesos (P522,000,000) of products which you sold to us, import taxes amounting to four hundred forty million pesos (P440,000,000).To state the same thing in another way, instead of receiving, as you did, five hundred twenty-two million pesos (P522,000,000) for the products you shipped us in 1931, 1932 and 1933, you would have received, after the payment of these import taxes, only eighty-two million pesos (P82,000,000), a loss to Filipino producers of four hundred forty million pesos (440,000,000) in that three-year period.Again, let us translate these large sums of Filipino money into more intimate and understandable values. Your sale of Filipino products to the United States during the last three years was one hundred seventy-four million pesos (P174,000,000) a year. Now, assuming that there are fourteen million (14,000,000) people in the Islands, these sales are equivalent to twelve pesos (P12) per year for every Filipino man, woman and child in your population. Allowing six (6) persons to each Filipino family, these sales represent seventy-two pesos (P72) per year for every family.Anticipating the full consequence of complete and absolute independence, it will be necessary to make such cost of production adjustment of the things which you produce and sell as will permit the Philippines to successfully compete with other countries producing similar products for sale not only in the United States market but also in all the markets of the world.That such cost-of-production adjustments are necessary can be illustrated by commenting on a single product which you export in great business abundance. The present cost, c. i. f., to New York of sugar average five pesos and forty centavos (P5.40) per 100 pounds compared with the Cuban cost of three pesos and eighty centavos (P3.80) per 100 pounds and the Javan cost of about two pesos (P2.00) per 100 pounds. The higher cost of producing Philippine sugar is due partly to lower production per acre as compared with Java, partly to higher wages and partly to other factors. The cost of production perhaps could be reduced so as to permit competition with Cuban sugar, only by severely cutting down capital investment, which is high in the Philippine Islands where most of the mills were built when construction and material costs were high.It is doubtful, however, whether this alone would permit Philippine sugar to compete with that of Cuba and Java after you are an independent nation. Indeed, some informed Filipino economists have stated it will be necessary to reduce wages by at least fifty per cent (50%). The game effect could be obtained by devaluing the peso, but it should be stated that such an expedient is attended with other difficulties and may offer but temporary relief.
DIFFICULTIES OF IMMEDIATEINDEPENDENCE

Such economic dislocation as has been shown for the people of the Philippines after independence, if unprovided for during the transition period, will result in great hardships throughout the Islands. For that reason a period of twelve years was selected in preference to immediate independence, although it was the desire of the United States to grant independence at once if the circumstances would have permitted such action to be taken. It is my own belief that persons in both countries who are conversant with economic factors, whatever their economic, emotional, political and spiritual impulses may be will not, after a full examination of the facts, consider immediate independence as the best solution of the problem. Certainly, it is doubtful whether such a a contention would be made by informed persons if they had the real welfare of the Filipino people at heart, or if they did not wish to destroy all the accomplishments of the Philippines while under the United States of America.To grant complete and absolute independence to the Philippine Island? tomorrow, giving them no time for the necessary readjustments, would destroy overnight the export trade of the Filipino people. At the same time there would be such a decrease in the national income of the Filipino people and such a material reduction in the sources of the nation that much of the education, health, transportation and general prosperity of the Islands would be extremely difficult for any nation to bear.NATIONAL DEFENSEWith the withdrawal of sovereignty of the United States from the Philippine Islands and the accomplishment of complete and absolute independence by the Filipino nation the problem of national defense for the Islands likewise must undergo a new consideration. When the flag of the United States of America comes down and the flag of the new Filipino nation is raised, the responsibility for your national defense passes from the hands of the United States to the new Filipino Government To expect the United States to bear responsibility for the acts of a nation over which it had no control whatsoever would be as illogical as it would be to ask the Filipino people, once they are independentf to defend the shores of the United States. Sovereignty and responsibility walk hand in hand. Without sovereignty there cannot be responsibility.
THE NEW FILIPINO NATION

I think the record will show that your speaker has been, on every occasion in the Congress of the United States, a champion of Filipino rights. Whenever matters affecting our mutual relationship have arisen, I have tried,, within the limits of my ability to sincerely present the Filipino view and to safeguard, insofar as I might, Filipino interests. I have no intention at this time to alter the position. Because of my record in the American Congress towards Filipino matters, because of the great affection which I have for the people of the Philippine Islands and because I wish you well in your new future venture of nationhood, I have taken the liberty of pointing out the difficulties ahead.In the not far distant future the Philippine Islands will achieve complete and absolute independence from the United States. What does complete and absolute independence mean for any nation? Some contend that it means the right and privilege to govern itself. Does it not mean more than this in reality? Does it not mean that it must devise a wise political economy, so that from that economy it can produce sufficient governmental revenue to provide for the common defense, promote this general welfare, establish a system of education for the masses of the people, improve and safeguard the sanitation and health, build roads and foster other means of land and water transportation to assist in the exchange of their commerce, establish courts and provide sufficient police forces to support and enforce the laws of the nation and, in addition, to govern so wisely its people and commerce that the Government will have sufficient revenues within its territorial limits and to adequately defend them against attack from without?This is the goal to which the Filipino people aspire. You have asked for the opportunity to reach this goal and have stated you are ready to assume the responsibilities which go hand in hand with the privileges of an independent nation. You have stated that you are ready to undertake the solution of the attendant difficulties; that you are willing to bear the grave responsibilities of nationhood. Therefore, the United States is beginning the termination of its sovereignty in the Philippine Islands. The people of the Philippine Islands are taking up the responsibilities of their future destiny.The United States of America has kept its word. Its promise is approaching fulfillment. Your request for action has not been denied. It is presumed that you were just as sincere in making this request as the United States was sincere in making its promise to grant ultimate independence to your people.I believe our contact with your people and temporary control over your destiny will prove in after years to have been one of the most unselfish and idealistic contacts of one people with another. This fact, I hope, will find room for expression in future pages of Philippine history, and I believe the historian will say that my country has tried to be helpful and has improved immeasurably the well-being of the people of these Islands.I have welcomed this opportunity to address you and, through you, the Filipino people. I have tried to do so in a spirit of good will, sincerity and frankness. I have ventured to comment briefly upon your future problems, to explain why certain measures have been adopted and to point out the obstacles which yet lie ahead, so that thereafter it may be said that nothing was concealed from the people of the Philippine Islands. America, I am sure, will consider seriously in the future any proposal you may suggest, incident to independence, which will conduce to the welfare of the people of both countries.Through the medium of open convenants mutually arrived at, our union will be dissolved in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding, to the end that, after independence, we may continue to carve out our separate destinies, still joined by the golden ties of mutual regard and good wishes of one for the other. On behalf of my associates of the Mission and myself, may I publicly thank you all for your hospitality, your helpfulness and kindness and wish you Godspeed.Millard E. Tydings