The 1st Congress of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (), also known as the Postwar Congress, and the Liberation Congress, refers to the meeting of the bicameral legislature composed of the Senate and House of Representatives, from 1945 to 1946. The meeting only convened after the reestablishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1945 when President Sergio Osmeña called it to hold five special sessions. Osmeña had replaced Manuel L. Quezon as president after the former died in exile in the United States in 1944.
Significance Not much has been written about the First Commonwealth Congress, despite its historical and political significance. This owes mainly to the briefness of its existence (i.e., less than a year). However, the First Commonwealth Congress was significant in at least three key respects:
First, it brought an end the president's exercise of legislative powers under the wartime emergency act passed by the defunct National Assembly in 1941.Araneta vs. Dinglasan, G.R. No. L-2044, August 26, 1949. The opening of Congress in 1945 allowed democratically elected representatives to pass legislation, especially to deal with the Philippines' postwar problems. It also provided an institutional check against executive power, including the presidential power to appoint top officials of the (postwar) government and appropriate funds for its operations.
Second, the First Commonwealth Congress gave birth to the two-party system in the Philippines, as the pro-Osmeña and pro-Roxas blocs or factions there eventually became the Nacionalista and Liberal Parties that alternated in power from 1945 until martial law was imposed in 1972. This Congress thus served as a well spring of political leaders under a two-party system of the soon-to-be independent Republic of the Philippines. Three Philippine presidents, Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino and Carlos P. Garcia were members of this Congress, as were postwar political party leaders like Senate President Eulogio Rodriguez, Speaker Eugenio Pérez, Senator Jose E. Romero and Senator Melecio Arranz. The patron-client orientation of the two-party system evolved in part from the resource constraints faced by members of the Congress right after the war.
Third, it was this Congress laid down much of the groundwork for the country's postwar reconstruction and rehabilitation, including its participation in the postwar global economic order dominated by the United States.
Background Through the most part of the term of the Second National Assembly (1938–1941), the First Congress' immediate predecessor, international conflicts that led to World War II began to take shape. As early as 1940, the National Assembly already declared a state of national emergencyThe Philippine Free Press Online – Emergency Powers . Accessed on April 16, 2007. to address the escalating emergency conditions of the times. It gave Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon extensive emergency powers to meet the worsening conditions. All preparations culminated when Japan attacked the Philippines a few hours after bombing Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941. The National Assembly lost no time in enacting substantive legislations, diverting all remaining funds for national defense purposes, and declaring a state of total emergency.The Sunday Times – PP1017 is not at all similar to PP1081 . Accessed on April 16, 2007 It furthered the broad emergency powers already granted to the President, such as the transfer of the seat of government and the extension of the effectivity of lapsing laws.
In its last act as a legislative body, the National Assembly certified the results of the November 1941 elections where Quezon and Osmeña were re-elected as president and vice president, respectively, along with the legislators who were to compose the First Commonwealth Congress. The Congress replaced the unicameral National Assembly as the legislative branch of government. It was due to meet for the first time in January 1942 had the war not intervene.
Due to the transfer of the Philippine Government to Washington, D.C. in 1942, and the three-year occupation (1942–1945) of the Philippines by Japanese forces, the First Congress could not be convened. In its place, the Japanese formed a puppet National Assembly that passed laws dictated by the Japanese Imperial Government in Tokyo.
The Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic, under José P. Laurel as president, ended in late February 1945 when the Philippines was liberated by the returning American forces in the Pacific.
Reestablishment of Commonwealth Government
Upon the reestablishment of the Philippine Commonwealth in Manila in 1945, General Douglas MacArthur exerted political pressure on President Sergio Osmeña to convene Congress in formal session. Osmeña was reluctant to do so not only because of the huge expense associated with the functioning of Congress, but more so because he feared that its two houses would be controlled by legislators who had collaborated with the Japanese when the Philippine Government was in exile in Washington, D.C.
On May 24, 1945, Osmeña offered Roxas the position of Resident Commissioner to the U.S. Roxas by then was known to be actively seeking the right opportunity to launch his presidential ambition with the backing of General Douglas MacArthur, Quezon's former military adviser and considered as the "Liberator of the Philippines." Two days later, Roxas declined Osmeña's offer and instead asked his supporters to announce his candidacy for president at a time when there was no designated date to hold a national election. The First Commonwealth Congress thus provided the vehicle for Roxas' primacy in Philippine postwar politics and government. It also paved the way for the permanent division of the old Nacionalista Party into two warring factions. Its so-called Liberal Wing or faction (later Liberal Party) nominated Roxas for the presidency in 1946.
The First Commonwealth Congress Convened
In late May 1945, President Osmeña was persuaded to call the First Commonwealth Congress to special session in order to tackle the most pressing issues of postwar rehabilitation and regain constitutional normalcy. Regular sessions could not be held by then, as the Constitution provided that these should take place for 100 days beginning on the fourth Monday of January of each year.
With the old Legislative Building in ruins, the First Commonwealth Congress met in a former Japanese schoolhouse located at 949 Lepanto Street, Manila, two blocks from the headquarters of Gota de Leche. Most senators and congressmen could not hold office there due to limited space and facilities, which were allotted to the officers of the two chambers and the congressional staff. The Senate and the House of Representatives shared the same session hall (the school's former auditorium), with the Senate meeting in the morning and the House using the hall in the evening. However, the Senate held office at 128 Legarda Street, which was about two blocks away from the Lepanto street schoolhouse. The Senate eventually took temporary quarters in the badly damaged Manila City Hall in 1947. The House remained at Lepanto Street until it moved, with the Senate, to the newly rebuilt Congress building in 1950.
At the first special session of Congress on June 9, 1945, Senators Manuel Roxas and Elpidio Quirino were elected as Senate President and Senate President Pro-Tempore, respectively. The House of Representatives elected for its Speaker Iloilo Rep. Jose C. Zulueta and for Speaker Pro-Tempore, Pangasinan Rep. Prospero Sanidad. Only 16 out of 24 senators and 75 of 98 congressmen, who were elected in 1941, attended the five special sessions called by the President. In the Senate alone, Senator Daniel Maramba had died of natural causes immediately before the outbreak of World War II. Senator José Ozámiz was executed by the Japanese. Senators Antonio de las Alas, Vicente Madrigal, Quintin Paredes, Claro M. Recto, Proceso E. Sebastian, Emiliano T. Tirona and José Yulo were arrested by the US Army's Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) because they had worked in various capacities under the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Government. Alas, Madrigal, Paredes, Recto, Sebastian, Tirona and Yulo had been part of Laurel's Cabinet. The Senate held a lottery to determine who among its members would serve up to April 1946 and November 1947, since senators serve staggered terms under the Constitution.Lumontad vs. Cuenco, 41 Off. Gaz., 894.
The First Commonwealth Congress initially convened with 14 senators and 66 congressmen. Two more senators reported and nine congressmen joined their colleagues in later sessions. Among the members of the First Commonwealth Congress was Representative Elisa Ochoa from Agusan, the first woman ever elected to the Philippine national legislature.
The two chambers of Congress assembled in joint session in the afternoon of June 9, 1945, to hear President Osmeña deliver his state of the nation address. Osmeña expectedly dealt with several proposed legislation to rebuild the financial infrastructure of the Philippines and restore government institutions. He also tried to address issues concerning the terms of office of officials elected in 1941 just before the Japanese invasion. Because of the severe damage caused to property by the war, the legislators who were hurriedly called to Manila in June 1945, including Roxas and Quirino, had no appropriate attire for the congressional sessions other than their army khaki uniforms. President Osmeña ordered two pairs of sharkskin suits to be purchased by the government (from the Manlapat tailoring shop across the temporary Congress building) for each of the legislators around the time of the opening of Congress.
A few foreign dignitaries also addressed the joint session in the next six months. This included U.S. High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt and General MacArthur who received a commendation from the Congress and a second resolution making him an honorary citizen of the Philippines. In his memorable address before its joint session on July 9, 1945, MacArthur said:
"Since the beginning of the time men have crusaded for freedom and for equality. It was this passion for liberty which inspired the architects of my own government to proclaim so immutably and so beautifully that 'all men are created equal' and 'that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' On such rights rest our basic concept of human freedom, in defense of which we have fought and still continue to fight on the battlefields of the world. These rights are the very antithesis to the totalitarian doctrine which seeks to regiment the people and control the human will as the price for presumed efficiency in government."Douglas MacArthur, Address before the Joint Session of the Congress of the Philippines, Manila, July 9, 1945
Accomplishments and Controversies
The First Commonwealth Congress passed a total of 55 laws in five special sessions: Commonwealth Act Nos. 672 to 727.
Heeding Osmeña's urgent call during the opening session of Congress, the first legislative measure it enacted was Commonwealth Act No. 672 which restored the Philippine National Bank and organized its financial capital. The viability of the Philippine National Bank was critical to the resuscitation of the Philippine Commonwealth after the war.