Zaid Ali D.

Bawari November 27, 2020

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Filipino Grievances against Governor Wood

Background of the account

Unlike the other primary

sources presented above,
Filipino Grievances Against
Governor
Wood is not a work of an
individual author but a
collective output of a group of
Filipinos politicians
who were forced by
circumstances to unite against a
common political enemy. The
draft of the
Zaid Ali D. Bawari November 27, 2020
BSF 1

document was attributed to

two leading lawyers at that
time, Jose Abad Santos and
Jorge
Bocobo. On November 17,
1926, the upper and lower
house of the Philippine
legislature
adopted the draft as a joint
resolution.
Jose Abad Santos was born in
San Fernando, Pampanga. He
was the son of Vicente Abad
Santos and Toribia Basco. He
was a Pencionado and studied
Zaid Ali D. Bawari November 27, 2020
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law in Northwestern University

in
Evanston, Illinois. After he
passed the Bar in 1911, he
served as Assistant Attorney at
the Bureau
of Justice and later rose to the
rank of Attorney General. He
was appointed Undersecretary
of
Justice in 1921 but gave up the
position at the height of the
cabinet crisis in 1923. He
served as
Zaid Ali D. Bawari November 27, 2020
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chief legal counsel of the Senate

President and the Speaker of the
House of Representative and
it was during this time when he
joined the Anti-Wood
campaign. He was appointed
Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court in
1932 and became Chief Justice
nine years later. On December
30, 1941, he administered the
oath of office of President
Quezon and Vice-President
Osmena for
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their second term. Before

Quezon left the country in 1942,
he appointed Abad Santos as
acting
president of the Commonwealth
government. On April 11,
1942, the Japanese army
arrested
him in Barili, Cebu and he
was subsequently brought to
Mindanao. On May 7, 1942,
he was
executed in Malabang, Lanao in
the presence of his son Pepito.
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Jorge Bocobo was born in

Gerona, Tarlac on October
19, 1886. His parents were
Tranquilino Bocobo and Rita
Teodora Tabago. In 1907, he
earned his Bachelor of Law
degree
from Indiana University under
the Pensionado program of the
colonial government. He started
his career as law clerk in the
Executive Bureau and in 1911,
he began teaching in the U.P.
College
Zaid Ali D. Bawari November 27, 2020
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of Law. In 1917, he was

appointed Full Professor of Law
and acting Dean of the College.
He was
a close associate of Manuel
L. Quezon and served as one
of his speech writers. He
became
president of the University of
the Philippines from 1934 to
1939 and Associate Justice of
the
Supreme Court from 1942-
1944. He died on July 23, 1965
Unlike the other primary sources presented above, Filipino Grievances Against Governor Wood
is not a work of an individual author but a collective output of a group of Filipinos politicians
who were forced by circumstances to unite against a common political enemy. The draft of the
document was attributed to two leading lawyers at that time, Jose Abad Santos and
Zaid Ali D. Bawari November 27, 2020
BSF 1
Jorge Bocobo. On November 17, 1926, the upper and lower house of the Philippine
legislature adopted the draft as a joint resolution.
Jose Abad Santos was born in San Fernando, Pampanga. He was the son of Vicente Abad
Santos and Toribia Basco. He was a Pencionado and studied law in Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois. After he passed the Bar in 1911, he served as Assistant Attorney at the
Bureau of Justice and later rose to the rank of Attorney General. He was appointed
Undersecretary of Justice in 1921 but gave up the position at the height of the cabinet crisis in
1923. He served as chief legal counsel of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of
Representative and it was during this time when he joined the Anti-Wood campaign. He was
appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1932 and became Chief Justice nine years
later. On December 30, 1941, he administered the oath of office of President Quezon and Vice-
President Osmena for their second term. Before Quezon left the country in 1942, he appointed
Abad Santos as acting president of the Commonwealth government. On April 11, 1942, the
Japanese army arrested him in Barili, Cebu and he was subsequently brought to Mindanao.
On May 7, 1942, he was executed in Malabang, Lanao in the presence of his son Pepito.
Jorge Bocobo was born in Gerona, Tarlac on October 19, 1886. His parents were
Tranquilino Bocobo and Rita Teodora Tabago. In 1907, he earned his Bachelor of Law degree
from Indiana University under the Pensionado program of the colonial government. He started
his career as law clerk in the Executive Bureau and in 1911, he began teaching in the U.P.
College of Law. In 1917, he was appointed Full Professor of Law and acting Dean of the
College. He was a close associate of Manuel L. Quezon and served as one of his speech
writers. He became president of the University of the Philippines from 1934 to 1939 and
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1942-1944. He died on July 23, 1965.

Content
The document Filipino Grievances Against Governor Wood is an example of a joint resolution
expressing the legislators’ disgust with the way Gov. Wood was running the affairs of the
government. It may also be classified as a protest or a petition letter. Since the persons behind it
and the circumstances surrounding it were highly political, one could expect that it is loaded with
political bias and partisan interest. Readers should be extra careful and should exercise due
diligence in distinguishing what elements are truthful and what are mere black propaganda.
Some of the issues raised here are partly true but were blown out of proportion in order to
discredit the Wood administration. Wood admitted in his diary that the “Conley case” was only a
pretext and the root cause of his falling out with the Filipino politicians was his refusal to let
Quezon run the government. Lewis Gleeck on his part wrote that the cabinet crisis was provoked
by Quezon who at that time was desperately in need of an election issue that he could use in his
political campaign.
The third paragraph of the document states that what prompted them to write the resolution was
Wood’s issuance of Executive Order No. 37. It abolished the Board of Control that Gov. Gen.
Francis Burton Harrison created during his term. This development stripped the power of
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Filipino legislators to oversee the sale and management of government-owned and controlled
corporations. The Board of Control was important to Filipinos because they were given voting
powers and they could even outvote the governor if they will vote as a block. For them, the
Executive Order was illegal because it violates the principle of separation of powers. Moreover,
they claimed that the governor general has no power to abolish it. Aside from E.O. 37, they also
raised more than twenty other abuses and unjust acts of the governor general. They
characterized Wood as “arbitrary, oppressive and undemocratic.” The last paragraph of the
document states that they are issuing it to appeal to the judgment and conscience of the American
people to support their stand and uphold their political rights.
The text that will be presented below is taken from Gregorio F. Zaide and Sonia Zaide’s
Documentary Sources of Philippine History. The document was originally published as
Appendix of Maximo M. Kalaw’s Philippine Government under the Jones Law.

Insights
Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints is an internationally refereed journal that
publishes scholarly articles and other materials on the history of the Philippines and its peoples, both
in the homeland and overseas. It believes the past is illuminated by historians as well as scholars from
other disciplines; at the same time, it prefers ethnographic approaches to the history of the present. It
welcomes works that are theoretically informed but not encumbered by jargon. It promotes a
comparative and transnational sensibility, and seeks to engage scholars who may not be specialists on
the Philippines. Founded in 1953 as Philippine Studies, the journal is published quarterly by the
Ateneo de Manila University through its School of Social Sciences.