QUEZON 1935-1941

In September 1935, under the banner of a coalition party, Quezon was elected first president of the
commonwealth, with Osmeña as vice president. Quezon's first act as chief executive was to push a national
defense bill through the rubber-stamp unicameral legislature, which he controlled. This bill made him chairman of
the Council for National Defense, with the chief of staff of the armed forces directly subordinate to him.

On Aug. 10, 1940, influenced by the growing Japanese imperialist encroachment, Quezon jammed through the
National Assembly the Emergency Powers Bill, which vested him with dictatorial powers. Passed by a vote of 62 to
1, the bill gave Quezon the authority to change even the social and economic structure of the country: he was
given the authority to require civilians to render service to the government, to outlaw strikes, to commandeer
shipping and other transportation, to control fuel resources, to revise the educational system, and so forth.

In November 1941 Quezon was reelected president of the commonwealth. When the Japanese forces occupied
Manila in 1942, Quezon and his Cabinet fled from the Philippines and set up an exile government in Washington in
May 1942. Quezon died on Aug. 1, 1944, a year before the liberation of the Philippines.

War preparations

In September 1940, Germany [Nazi Party], Italy, and Empire of Japan had allied under the Tripartite
Coalition.

Japan launched a surprise attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941.

The Philippine Commonwealth government drafted the Philippine Army into the U.S. Army Forces Far East, which
would resist Japanese occupation. Manila was declared an open city to prevent its destruction,[25] and it was
occupied by the Japanese on January 2, 1942.[26] Meanwhile, battles against the Japanese continued on the
Bataan Peninsula, Corregidor, and Leyte until the final surrender of United States-Philippine forces on May
1942.[27]

Quezon and Osmeña were escorted by troops from Manila to Corregidor, and later they left
for Australia and then the U.S. There they set up a government in exile, [28] which participated in the
Pacific War Council as well as the Declaration by United Nations. During this exile, Quezon became ill
with tuberculosis, and later he died of it. Osmeña replaced him as the president.

The combined American-Filipino army was defeated in the Battle of Corregidor in April 1942,
but guerrilla resistance against the Japanese continued throughout the war.

Japan and the USSR signed a neutrality pact in April 1941 and Japan increased pressure on the French and Dutch
colonies in Southeast Asia to cooperate in economic matters. Japanese forces occupied the naval and air bases of
southern Indochina on 22 July 1941. The Philippines was almost completely surrounded.
Meanwhile, the Japanese military organized a new government in the Philippines known as the Second Philippine
Republic, which was headed by President José P. Laurel. This government ended up being very unpopular.[
The resistance to the Japanese occupation continued in the Philippines. This included the Hukbalahap ("People's Army Against
the Japanese"), which consisted of 30,000 armed people and controlled much of Central Luzon.[29] Remnants of the Philippine
Army also fought the Japanese through guerrilla warfare, and it was successful, since all but 12 of the 48 provinces were
liberated.[29]

General MacArthur and President Osmeña returning to the PhilippinesThe American General Douglas MacArthur's army landed
on Leyte on 20 October 1944, and they were all welcomed as liberators,[17] along with Philippine Commonwealth troops when
other amphibious landings soon followed. Fighting continued in remote corners of the Philippines until Japan's surrender in
August 1945, which was signed on 2 September in Tokyo Bay. Estimates for Filipino casualties reached one million,
and Manila was extensively damaged when certain Japanese forces refused to vacate the city (against their
orders from the Japanese High Command).[29]
After the War in the Philippines, the Philippine 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 and Elpidio Quirino winning as vice-president. In spite of
the years of Japanese occupation, the Philippines became independent exactly as scheduled a decade before, on
July 4, 1946.

Independence

The Commonwealth ended when the U.S. recognized Philippine independence on July 4, 1946, as
scheduled.[15][30] However, the economy remained dependent to the U.S. This was due to the Bell Trade Act,
otherwise known as the Philippine Trade Act, which was a precondition for receiving war rehabilitation grants from
the United States.

Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Dec. 8, 1941: Japanese bomb the Philippines, destroying many aircraft at Clark Field

Dec. 22, 1941: About 43,000 Japanese troops begin the main invasion of Luzon; American and Filipino troops begin to amass on
Bataan

Dec. 24, 1941: Manila declared "open city"

End of December 1941: Ground war in progress on Bataan

Feb. 8, 1942: Japan decides to regroup after its forces are repelled

March 1942: Having received reinforcements, Japanese strengthen attacks

March 12, 1942: Gen. Douglas MacArthur evacuated to Australia from Corregidor

April 9, 1942: Gen. Edward King surrenders Bataan; death march begins

March 1, 1942: Final Japanese assault on Corregidor begins

May 6, 1942: Gen. Jonathan Wainwright asks to surrender Corregidor

Feb. 3, 1945: Battle of Manila begins

March 4, 1945: Manila officially liberated, but the city is devastated by bombing and the Manila Massacre, in which about
100,000 people were killed.

Aug. 6, 1945: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

Aug. 9, 1945: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan

Aug. 15, 1945: Japanese Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender

Sept. 2, 1945: Japan officially surrenders aboard the Missouri

December 1945: Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita sentenced to death for the Manila Massacre and other war crimes.

Feb. 23, 1946: Yamashita hanged in the Philippines

April 3, 1946: Japanese Gen. Masaharu Homma, who directed the battle for Bataan, is executed for his role in the death march
and atrocities committed in prison camps. American and Filipino forces make up the firing squad.