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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
Zaid Ali D. Bawari November 27, 2020
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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.