The Philippine Independence Act, or Tydings–McDuffie Act (), is an Act of Congress that established the process for the Philippines, then a US territory, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the act, the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines was written and the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established, with the first directly elected president of the Philippines. (Direct elections to the Philippine Legislature had been held since 1907.) It also established limitations on Filipino immigration to the United States.

The act was authored in the 73rd United States Congress by Senator Millard Tydings (Dem.) of Maryland and Representative John McDuffie (Dem.) of Alabama,

Immigration

The act reclassified all Filipinos, including those who were living in the United States, as aliens for the purposes of immigration to the United States. A quota of 50 immigrants per year was established.

History

thumb|upright=1.35|Representatives from the Philippine Independence Mission in 1924 (left to right): [[Isauro Gabaldón, Sergio Osmeña, Manuel L. Quezon, Claro M. Recto, Pedro Guevara, and Jorge Bocobo]]

An attempt to set a final date for Philippine independence was first manifested in the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act of 1933. Though Congress passed it, overriding President Hoover's veto, it failed to create a concrete timeline for independence. Requiring the consent of the Philippine Senate for it to be implemented, the bill failed after the then-President of the Senate Manuel L. Quezon convinced it to reject the bill because of the act's provision that would have allowed for the U.S. to station military bases in the islands permanently. Thus, it was necessary for Congress to draft a new bill to address these complaints and finally establish a timeline for the colony's independence.

In 1934, Quezon headed a "Philippine Independence mission" to Washington, D.C. It lobbied Congress and secured the act's passage.

In 1935, under the provisions of the act, the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines was drafted and became law, establishing the Commonwealth of the Philippines with an elected executive, the president of the Philippines. The Commonwealth was to be a transitional government lasting for a period of ten years, with independence to be granted on July 4, 1946.

Accordingly, President Harry S. Truman issued Proclamation 2695 of July 4, 1946, officially recognizing the independence of the Philippines.

Immigration

The immigration quota under the act was low, and immigration continued at levels much higher than the legal quota. This was due to the strength of agricultural lobbies, such as the Hawaiian sugar planters, which were able to successfully lobby the federal government to allow more male Filipino agricultural workers provided that they demonstrated a need. This further increased the Filipino population in Hawaii which had at one point been 25% of agricultural workers on the islands.

This act extended the Asian-exclusion policy of the Immigration Act of 1924 to the soon-to-be-former territory. This policy hampered the domestic lives of many Filipinos within the US because any Filipino who wished to go to the Philippines and then return to the United States would be subject to the restrictions on Asian immigration to America and would likely never be allowed to return. Filipinos would have been barred from immigrating to the U.S. without the Act. Two days later, on July 4, 1946, the Philippines became independent with the signing of the Treaty of Manila.

See also

  • History of the Philippines (1898–1946)
  • Philippine Organic Act (1902)
  • Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act

References

  • Text of the Tydings–McDuffie Act