MANUEL QUEZON

PAID MACARTHUR
$500,000. IT IS BRIBE
OR UTANG
NA LOOB?
Manuel L. Quezon was born in
Baler, Aurora on August 19,
1878. He was a Filipino lawyer
statesman, a soldier, A leader of
the independence movement,
elected as the second President
of the Philippines and
considered to be the First
President of the Philippine
Commonwealth established
under United State tutelage in
1935.
Douglas MacArthur was an American
military leader who served as General
of the Army for the United States, as
well as a field marshal to
the Philippine Army. He was a son of
an American Civil War hero,
MacArthur served as chief U.S.
military adviser to the Philippines
before World War II.
Many U.S. citizen has mixed feelings about
General of the Army Douglas Mac-Arthur. But
to Filipinos, MacArthur is a hero without flaw.
"I shall return," he promised in retreat before
the Japanese in the first dark days of 1942; and
he kept his promise when U.S. troops stormed
back into the Philippines in 1944. He returned
again in 1946 to watch as the U.S., after nearly
50 years of beneficent colonial tutelage,
bestowed independence on the Philippines.
 IS MANUEL QUEZON’S $500,000
PAYMENT TO DOUGLAS MACARTHUR A
BRIBE OR UTANG NA LOOB?
 One of the most controversial moments
in the controversial life of Douglas
MacArthur came in early 1942, when he
received $500,000 from the Philippine
government during the siege of Corregidor
and Bataan. This fact remained a secret until
historian Carol Petillo broke the story in a
1979 article, and while some of the details
may never be known, the incident has
received well-deserved attention. 
 The documents Petillo found in the National Archives
showed that on Jan. 3, 1942, Quezon directed by executive
order that $640,000 from the Philippine treasury be conveyed
to the personal bank accounts of MacArthur and three
members of his staff "in recognition of outstanding service to
the Commonwealth of the Philippines. “Quezon said that the
"recompense and reward" was for "distinguished service" from
Nov. 15, 1935, to Dec. 30, 1941.
General Douglas MacArthur $500,000
Major General Richard K. Sutherland $75,000
Brigadier General Richard J. Marshall Jr. $45,000
Lieutenant Colonel Sidney L. Huff $20,000
 Quezon's reasons for offering, and MacArthur's reasons for
accepting, are the result that will always remain something of a
mystery. Regarding Quezon's offer, she cites the Filipino concept
of "utang na loob," a kind of reciprocal bond of obligation
between family or close friends. From his Asian/Filipino
perspective, Quezon was cementing an already close bond that
existed on two levels: on a personal level, between MacArthur
and himself; and on a national level, between their two countries.
Thus the money was both a reward for MacArthur's past service
to the Philippines and a further guarantee that MacArthur would
do everything in his power to help the Filipinos in the days ahead.
There was nothing illegal about
these gifts and MacArthur had been
given permission to accept his.
However, the culture of most
Western armies, including the US
Army, is that large cash gifts are
never sought and generally never
offered by a host country. In this
case, the sum involved was so very
large and its juxtaposition with
Quezon's departure so close, that
the implication that it was a bribe
appropriate.
THANK
YOU!