American rule in the Philippines is deemed to be both beneficial and disadvantageous in many

aspects. They made impacts when it came to the government, women’s right to suffrage, Filipino civil
liberties, language and literature, and more. But despite their efforts to show their ways of “helping” the
Filipino people, the prominent political leaders of the Philippines still fought for independence. Now, it
depends on how one’s eyes see the implication of the effects of American rule in the Philippines, but one
thing is for sure, the American rulers gave the Filipinos opportunities that they were unable to have
during the Spanish colonial rule.

The Filipino has long strived for Independence even during the Spanish colonial rule. So
as when Americans took over and took possession of the Philippines, the Filipinos lost their
rights again over their country. However for the Americans, it was said that their purpose was to
(help) train the Philippines to self-government as to before granting the Philippines ,
Independence, as they were doubtful of the country’s ability to govern themselves, and also
concern for the country’s well being. In this time Filipinos were under the supervision of the
Americans as they were given the right to manage their local affairs. Under the pretense of it as a
step in training the Filipinos to self-government. Certain laws and political groups have been
created in order for the Filipinos to have a little say in governing themselves. The main point in
this chapter is for the Filipinos to interfere and represent themselves as the rightful citizens of the
Philippines. Such as the Municipal Code Act, where in filipinos are given the right to vote
however it was marginalized, only highly educated and propertied males were qualified. It did
not give the rights to the women, poor and uneducated Filipinos. Mostly filipinos who are pro-
Americans, members of ilustrados and principalia have led the filipinos in the government. In
looking at this, on the brighter side, they treated the filipinos better than how they were treated
under Spanish colonialism, we can say that they have looked at the Filipinos almost eye to eye,
head to head however on the downside, discrimination was evident and the intended Filipinos are
not the whole Filipino of the country but only those who fit to their standard were given the
importance of having a say in the government.
Until Francis Burton became the governor-general of the Philippines. He was highly
significant in giving the Filipino a voice and a hand for their country. He paved the way for them
in governing themselves, not just in the local but in the national level. He has created the Council
of state and always on ears for the Filipinos, he was looked up to by them for not turning a blind
eye of the Filipinos eagerness to stand on their own feet. When Francis ended his term, a lot of
filipinos were already in the government, almost all positions were taken up by a Filipino,
despite that in the positions where final decisions are made, American still holds the position and
was viewed that Filipinos are governing the Philippines under American supervision. This was
the first step of the Filipinos before they could attain Total Independence from the shackles of
being sold to America.
In the long run, the idea of independence of the Philippines was being argued by the
Republican and Democrat American leaders. Governor Wood, a Republican, was blatantly
opposed to the goal of Philippine independence, in contrast to Governor Harrison, a Democrat
who supported it. Under Governor Wood, there were issues with the leadership of the
Philippines. It was because he reversed the Filipinization that Governor Harrison had done. Now,
the problem then occurs when the Filipino members of the Cabinet and the Council of State have
a mass resignation (Cabinet Crisis). This happened because the Filipino members believed that
Wood was an anti-Filipino. This act of the Filipinos indicated that they were ready to challenge
the authority of the Americans, they were ready to defend the country whenever someone tried to
abolish the fruit of their hard work in Filipinizing the government. In this time, Filipino leaders
began certain movements and were more ignited to achieve independence for the Filipino people.
So different missions for independence were carried out, however, they failed. But, it did
not dishearten the Filipino leaders, instead, they remained strong and tried to have another
independence mission. The Os-Rox Mission, headed by Osmeña and Quezon, was supported by
different American groups such as the farm groups, the labor leaders, and the isolationists. The
Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act was subsequently passed as a result of it. The only benefit of Congress
was that it would aid in the establishment of the Commonwealth Government. The Filipinos,
however, will face a number of disadvantages as a result of the restrictions that were set forth.
The immigration quota was offensive and biased, the law did not provide the Philippines with
economic security, and the American High Commissioner’s authority was “too indefinite.” So
Manuel L. Quezon one of the Filipino leaders he fear that if he allowed the acceptance of the
Hare- Hawes-Cutting Law, which was the fruit of Osmeña’s and Roxas’s labor, Osmeña would
have an advantage if he were to run as President of the Commonwealth. He did not want this to
happen. He wanted to remain the leader of the Filipino people. And so, he worked for the
rejection of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law and proposed a much better law however it was
disappointingly disapproved for the Americans are not in favor of the proposal because they
don’t see any benefits from it. So instead he worked his way, where he was granted the Tyding-
McDuffie where the only revision is “the retention of naval reservations and fueling stations”
instead of “the retention of military and other reservations.” They may not achieve what exactly
they at least were able to achieve little by little. On September 17, 1937, women’s suffrage was
legalized in the Philippines, after the required threshold for the plebiscite of 300,000 was
surpassed. 447,725 women affirmed their aspiration to vote, against 33,307 no votes. The
Philippines was one of the first Asian countries to allow this right for women.