The Philippine under the Japanese occupation

During world war II

(Politics, economics and socio - cultural changes)

On December 8 1941, Japanese navals bombers and dawn, attacked Pearl harbor in Hawaii
that causes big effect or impact to the people of United States under President Roosevelt that urged him
to declare war against the impure of Japan. The war condition began to rise that many countries have
been affected especially the Philippines. Over the past months, the Japanese military won their battle
against the Philippine defenders who's striving hard just to fight and protect the country.

The economy, politics and socio cultural of the Philippines have many changes under the
Japanese government. The commander in chief of the Japanese Imperial forces, General Masaharu
Homma, in his proclamation announcing the end of American occupation and the Japanese expedition in
the Philippines was to emancipate the filipinoes from the oppressive dominion of the United States of
America. The Japanese started to institute radical reforms in the administration of the government.
General Homma issued an order to Jose B. Vargas directing him to be the chairman of the Executive
Commission. The Central Administrative Departments; Interior, Finance, Justice, Agriculture and
Commerce, Education, Health and Public Welfare, and Public Works and Communications. Each
department has a Japanese advisers. On provincial and municipal levels, the order was to maintain the
status quo. The economic condition of the filipinoes or the economic activities during the occupation
were limited. Commerce and trade suffered a set back. Industries, Banks and Factories were on stand
still. Works animals decreased and agriculture became weak in terms of production. Horses, cars, trucks,
and other means of transportation were confiscated by the Japanese. Rice production sank very low,
resulting prehibitive price of rice. Moreover, because of poverty, filipinoes learned to stole dresses, polo
shirts and pants from the interred dead at La Loma Cemetery and other graveyards. And that time the
demand of gold led some unscrupulous people to dig the graves or destroy the tombs of the dead in the
cemeteries hoping to find gold. The Social Condition of the filipinoes lives under the Japanese
occupation way full of fear and anxiety. Its impact on the psychological and physical nerves of the
filipinoes were terrifying and dangerous. All suspected civilians sympathetic to the guerilla movement
meant severe punishment in a brutal way, the innocent women were raped by the Japanese military
men and filipinoes should always note that the most feard Japanese word was "kura". And because of
the economic crises and the scarcity of food, many filipinoes suffered from the extreme hunger and die
because of deceases. So the climate of fear enveloped the community.

However, there were theatre where pre-war American films were shown were they censored
by the Japanese authorities. The Japanese authorities discouraged the filipinoes from writing in English.
So there was no freedom of expression, but then the filipino writers were able to produce a good
literary pieces. The Japanese published the Philippine Review and Pillars both containing propaganda
materials about Japan. The fact remain that the Japanese purpose in encouraging filipino writers to
write in Tagalog rather than in English, helped to a great extent these writers in Tagalog to rediscover
the beauty and the promise about the potentialities of this native language- FILIPINO. Moreover, the
cultural aspects of the filipinoes helps them, the people from the elites, the middle class and the masses
with delights and enjoyment that they forgot temporarily the pain brought by war.