2.9. Commission on Independence, Filipino Grievances Against Governor Wood (Zaide, 11. pp.

230-234). [Petition letter]

Historical Background:

From the time of the American arrival in the Philippines in 1898, Filipinos persistently demanded
their independence. Their colonial officials could not say no, because it would only derail their effort for
pacification. Instead, they appointed Filipino politicians to key government positions hoping that by
doing so the Filipinos will slowly forget their desire for independence. However, the appointment of
Francis Burton Harrison as governor general and the passage of the Jones Law in 1916 (Philippine
Autonomy Law) changed the political landscape in the Philippines. Under the administration pf
President Woodrow Wilson, the Jones Law categorically expressed that America would give the Filipinos
independence once a stable government is established. No specific date was given but for Quezon and
other officials the written promise was already a significant achievement. It was backed up further by
the Retirement Act of 1915 when attractive financial package were offered to Americans who would
voluntarily give up their work in the Philippines. This brought about the Filipinization of the bureaucracy.

Except for the governor general, the vice governor, and a few more sensitive positions, all other
positions were offered to Filipinos. Local politicians held cabinet positions and top notch Filipino
lawyers were appointed to the Supreme Court. There were 45 provinces that were put under Filipino
governors, and more than 800 municipalities under Filipino mayors. The Jones law also created a
bicameral Congress that gave opportunities to politicians based in the provinces to participate i n policy
making. Quezon was Senate President while the House of Representatives had Sergio Osmena as
Speaker. Being in key government positions, the Filipinos began to prove to the Americans that they are
now competent to manage their own affairs. The Filipinos expected that it would no be long until
America would consider the Filipinos as already compliant with the requirements of the Jones Law and
therefore must be given independence.

The defeat of the Democrats in the 1920 presidential election devastated the aspiration of the
Filipinos for independence. After Republican President Warren Harding took office, he sent Leonard
Wood and William Cameron Forbes (Wood-Forbes mission) to the Philippines to observe if ever the
Filipinos have already complied with the conditions of the Jones law. The mission conducted an
exhaustive investigation visiting 48 provinces and 449 municipalities. However, the result of which was
not favorable to the cause of Filipino independence. It exposed the corruption and patronage system
that became prevalent in government owned and controlled corporations during the Harrison era. It
singled out particularly the anomalous transactions in the administration of public lands and the banking
malpractices that resulted to the bankruptcy of the Philippine National Bank (P.N.B.). Quezon and other
members of the Nationalista Party were offended by the report because it insinuated that Filipino
leaders were corrupt and incompetent and therefore do not deserve yet to be given independence.

When Leonard Wood retired from the U.S. Army in 1921, Harding appointed him as Governor
General of the Philippines. After being sworn into office in October 1921, Filipino politicians welcomed
him thinking he would return to U.S. anyway in a year to assume the presidency of University of
Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, Wood stayed and remained governor general until his death in 1927.
During his administration, he monitored closely the activities of local officials and checked their
misconducts. He also vetoed numerous bills that the Philippine legislature passed and appointed
American military men as officials under the executive branch (known as Khaki cabinet). Moreover, he
fortifed the powers and jurisdiction of the governor general as they were already reduced during the
Harrison period. Wood’s reforms and the reassertion of American power in government were not taken
well by Quezon and the Filipino bureaucrats. Situation went worst as years passed as it reached its
height with the Cabinet Crisis of 1923.

The anti-Wood sentiment of Filipino officials exploded on July 21, 1923 with the decision of
Governor General to reinstate Ray Conley, chief of the vice squad of the Manila police force who was
accused of receiving money from gambling lords. The case was initiated by Mr. Almario, secretary to the
Mayor, who presented an alleged faked telephone conversation between Conley and some gamblers.
When Manila Mayor Ramon Fernandez presented the case to Gov. Wood, he advised the mayor file the
case in court. The court acquitted Conley, but dissatisfied, Mayor Fernandez and Justice Secretary Jose
P. Laurel requested Wood to allow them to conduct an investigation on Conley. Instead of granting the
request, Wood created a board composed of other government officials. The board found Conley not
guilty and recommended his reinstatement. Wood personally believed that Conley was not accountable
and the charges against him were only fabrications of influential and well connected persons who were
affected by the anti-gambling campaign. After he was acquitted, Conley resigned and Wood accepted it.
Eventhogh innocent of bribery Wood discovered Conley was keeping a mistress and was making false
statements.

Mayor Fernandez and Secretary Laurel were insulted learning that the Board created by Wood
acquitted Conley. The decision implied that their case against Conley was weak. To counter their
discontent, they emphasized to the people that Conley was acquitted not for his innocence but because
he was an American. The two tendered their resignation and Senate President Quezon and Speaker
Manuel Roxas also resigned as members of the Council of State in support of Laurel.

Gov. Wood tried to win back the Filipino officials who gave up their positions. His gesture was
not reciprocated and this made him accept their resignations, and replace them with their deputies. At
the height of the crisis, various accusations were raised against Wood. Quezon and his allies also
communicated with President Harding informing him of the reasons why they resigned en masse. They
told Harding that they were also planning to send a delegation to the U. S. to discuss Wood’s blatant
disregard of the rights and privileges granted to Filipinos by the previous administration. The document
presented below summarizes the grievances and disgust of Filipino government officials who were
affected by Wood’s reforms and administrative ways.

THE TEXT:

(Approved by the commission on independence on November 17, 1926)

More than a quarter of century has elapsed since the Philippines came under the American flag
— an emblem of freedom, not of subjugation; a symbol of altruism, not of selfishness or greed. American
sovereignty was implanted in our country with the avowed purpose of training us in the art of self -
government and granting us independence. Our good, not her gain was to be America’s aim. Our country
was committed to her trust to be conserved and developed for the benefits of our people.

Believing in the sincerity of America’s purpose, the Filipinos applied themselves with patient diligence to
the task of meeting the conditions exacted of them, anxiously awaiting the day when America would
honor her promise.

The first twenty years of civil government were marked by manual understanding and loyal
cooperation between American and Filipinos. At the end of that period, when it seemed that the goal
had finally been reached, after the President of the United States had advised the Congress that the time
had come for American to fulfill her sacred pledge, Major-General Leonard Wood was sent to the
Philippines as Governor-General. Cognizant of the part taken by General Wood in the liberation of Cuna,
the Filipino people expected that under his administration the spirit of cooperation would be maintained
and that the work of political emancipation would be complete. Contrary, however, to our expectations,
his conduct of the government has been characterized by a train of usurpations and arbitrary acts,
resulting in the curtailment of our autonomy, the destruction of our constitutional system, and the
reversal of America’s Philippine policy.

This line of conduct recently culminated in the issuance of Executive Order No. 37, by which he
has attempted to nullify laws creating the Board of Control and assumed the functions of that body. The
gravity of this last step is the more evident when we recall the series of usurpations theretofore
committed by him.

He has refused his assent to laws which were the most wholesome and necessary for the public
good.

He has set at naught both the legal authority and responsibility for the Philippine heads of
departments.

He has substituted his constitutional advisers for a group of military attaches without legal
standing in the government and not responsible to the people.

He has reversed the policy of Filipinizing the service of the government by appointing Americans
even when Filipinos of proven capacity were available.

He has obstructed the carrying out of national economic policies duly adopted by the Legislature,
merely because they are in conflict with his personal views.

He has rendered merely perfunctory by the power of Legislature to pass the annual
appropriation law by reviving items in the law of the preceding years, after vetoing the corresponding
items of the current appropriation act, in flagrant violation of the Organic Law.

He has made appointments to position and authorized the payment of salaries therefore after
having vetoed the appropriations for such salaries.

He has used certain public funds to grant additional compensation to public officials.in clear
violation of law.

He has arrogated unto himself the right of exercising the powers granted by law to the
Emergency Board after abolishing said board on the ground that its powers involved an unlawful
delegation of legislative authority.

He has unduly interfered in the administration of justice.`

He has refused to obtain the advice of the Senate in making appointments where such advice is
required by the Organic Act.

He has refused to submit to the Senate appointment for vacancies occurring during the recess of
the Legislature in contravention of the Organic Act.

He has continued in office nominees whose appointments had been rejected by the Senate.

He has usurped legislative power by imposing conditions on legislative measures approved by

him.
 He has, in the administration of affairs in Mindanao, brought about the condition which has
given rise to discord and dissension between certain groups of Christian and Mohammedan Filipinos.

He has by his policies created strained relations between resident Americans and Filipinos.

He has endeavored, on the pretext of getting the government out of business, to dispose of all
the companies capitalized by the government worth many millions of the people’s money to powerful
American interest.

He has sanctioned the campaign of insidious propaganda in the United States against the
Filipino people and their aspirations.

He has attempted to close the Philippine National Bank so necessary to the economic
development of the country.

He has adopted the practice of intervening in, and controlling directly, to its minute details, the
affairs of the Philippine Government, both insular and local, in violation of self-government.

He has insistently sought the amendment of our land laws approved by the Congress of the
United States, which amendment would open up the resources of our country to exploitation by
predatory interests.

Not content with these and other arbitrary acts, the Governor-General has recently promulgated
Executive Order no.37, declaring that the laws creating and defining the powers of the Board of Control
which is authorized to vote the stocks owned by the government in certain private corporation s, are
absolute nullities. In the same order the Governor-General also announced his purpose to exercise solely
and by himself the powers and duties developing upon said board. This executive order is purported to be
based on an opinion rendered by the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army and the
conformatory opinion of the Acting Advocate General on November 7. Despite its fact, he has found it
convenient to withhold the publication of his order until November 10, a few hours after the Legislature
had adjourned, thus depriving the legislature of the opportunity to consider the matter.

The laws creating and defining the powers of the Board of Control have been in force and acted
upon by the present Governor-General and other officers of the government for a number of years and
they have neither been repealed by the Legislature, annulled by Congress, nor declared unconstitutional
by the courts. To hold that Governor-General by a mere executive order can set them aside, is to subvert
the whole system of constitutional government and destroy the theory of separation of powers which the
Governor-General has always been so intent in upholding.

In the face of this critical situation, we, the constitutional representatives of the Filipinos people,
met to deliberate upon the present difficulties existing in the government of the Philippines island and
determine how best to preserve the supremacy and majesty of the laws and to safeguard the rights and
liberties of our people, having faith in the sense of justice of the people of the United States and inspired
by her patriotic example in the early days of her history, do hereby, in our behalf and in the name of the
Filipino people, solemnly and publicly make known our most vigorous protest against the arbitrary acts
and usurpations of the present Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, particularly against Executive
Order No. 37.

The consciousness of our sacred and inescapable duty to our country and our sense of loyalty to
the people of the United States constrain to denounce the foregoing acts of the present Governor-
General as arbitrary, oppressive and undemocratic. We appeal to the judgement and conscience of the
American people in justification of our stand and for the vindication of our rights.