On November 17, 1926, the upper and lower house of the Philippine legislature adopted the draft as a

joint resolution.

Jose Abad Santos

 He was the son of Vicente Abad Santos and Toribia Basco. 

 He was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1932 and became Chief
Justice nine years later. On December 30, 1941, he administered the oath of office of
President Quezon and Vice-President Osmena for their second term. Before Quezon left
the country in 1942, he appointed Abad Santos as acting president of the
Commonwealth government. On April 11, 1942, the Japanese army arrested him in
Barili, Cebu and he was subsequently brought to Mindanao. On May 7, 1942, he was
executed in Malabang, Lanao in the presence of his son Pepito.

Jorge Bocobo

 He died on July 23, 1965

Historical Context:
From the time the Americans arrived in the Philippines in 1898, Filipinos persistently
demanded to give them independence. American colonial officials did not say no to
them because it would surely derail their effort to pacify them. Instead, they appointed
Filipino politicians to key government positions hoping that by doing so they will forget
their desire for independence. The appointment of Francis Burton Harrison as governor
general and the passage of the Jones Law in 1916 change the political landscape in the
Philippines. Jones Law categorically stipulated that the American government would
give the Filipinos independence once they have established a stable government. No
specific date was given but for Quezon and other officials the written promise was
already a significant achievement. They were further elated when the Retirement Act
was passed in 1915 which offered attractive financial package to Americans who would
voluntarily give up their positions in the Philippines. This paved the way for the
Filipinization of the bureaucracy.
Except for the position of governor general, vice governor, Secretary of Public
Instruction and a few more sensitive positions, all other positions were offered to
Filipinos. Local politicians were allowed to hold cabinet positions and top notch Filipino
lawyers were appointed justices of the supreme court. Moreover, forty-five provinces
and more than eight hundred municipalities were put under Filipino governors and
mayors respectively. The Jones law also created a bicameral congress that gave
opportunities to politicians based in the provinces to participate in policy making.
Quezon led the Senate and the House of Representatives elected Sergio Osmena as
their speaker. While holding key positions in the government, Filipinos tried to prove to
the Americans that they are now competent and ready to manage their own affairs.
They were expecting that in the coming years American officials would be convinced
that Filipinos are now compliant with the requirements of the Jones Law and therefore
must be given independence.
The defeat of the Democrats in the 1920 presidential election had devastating effects on
the aspiration of the Filipinos to be given independence. Months after President Warren
Harding was sworn into office, he sent Leonard Wood and William Cameron Forbes
(Wood-Forbes mission) to the Philippines to check if the Filipinos have already satisfied
the conditions set by the Jones law. The team conducted an exhaustive investigation
and visited 48 provinces and 449 municipalities. The report they submitted was not
favorable to the cause of the Filipino politicians. It exposed the corruption and
patronage system that became prevalent in government owned and controlled
corporations during the Harrison era. It singled out particularly the anomalous
transactions in the administration of public lands and the banking malpractices that
resulted to the bankruptcy of the Philippine National Bank (P.N.B.). Quezon and other
members of the Nationalista Party were offended by the report because it insinuated
that Filipino leaders were corrupt and incompetent and therefore do not deserve yet to
be given independence.
After Leonard Wood retired from the U.S. Army in 1921, President Harding appointed
him (<[Link]
General of the Philippines. When he was sworn into office in October 15, 1921, Filipino
politicians did not oppose his appointment because they were led to believe that he
would go back to the U.S. after a year to assume the presidency of University of
Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, Wood opted to stay in the Philippines and remained
governor general until he died in 1927. During his governorship, he monitored closely
the activities of the local politicians and corrected some of their misconducts. He also
vetoed numerous bills that the Philippine legislature passed and appointed American
military men in key positions under the executive branch (known as Khaki cabinet). On
top of these, he strengthened the powers and jurisdiction of the governor general which
were significantly reduced during the Harrison era. Wood’s reforms and his reassertion
of American sovereignty did not sit well with Quezon and other Filipino politicians. As
years went on the situation went from bad to worse and ultimately catapulted in the
Cabinet Crisis of 1923.
The anti-Wood sentiment of Filipino politicians ruptured on July 21, 1923 and the event
that triggered it was the decision of Wood to reinstate Ray Conley, the chief of the vice
squad of the Manila police force who was accused of receiving money from gambling
lords. The case was spearheaded by Mr. Almario, the secretary of the City Mayor, who
presented a faked telephone conversation between Conley and some gamblers. When
Manila Mayor Ramon Fernandez referred the case to Gov. Wood, the latter advised the
mayor to bring the case in court. The court acquitted Conley and to save their face,
Mayor Fernandez and Justice Secretary Jose P. Laurel requested Wood to allow them
to conduct an administrative investigation on Conley. Instead of granting their request,
Wood created a board composed on the Civil Service Director, the undersecretary of
Justice and an American Colonel of the Constabulary. The board found Conley not
guilty and recommended his reinstatement. Wood personally believes that Conley is
innocent and the charges against him were just fabrications of influential and well
connected personalities who were affected by this anti-gambling campaign. After he
was acquitted, Conley resigned and Wood accepted it. Wood found him innocent of
bribery but he found him is guilty of keeping a mistress and for making false statements.
Manila Mayor Ramon Fernandez and Justice Secretary Jose P. Laurel felt insulted
when they learned that the Board created by Wood acquitted Conley. The decision put
them in bad light because it implied that the case they filed against Conley was weak.
As a counter measure, they explained to the people that Conley was acquitted not
because he was innocent but because he was an American. Fernandez and Laurel
tendered their resignation and Senate President Quezon and Speaker Manuel Roxas
also resigned as members of the Council of State in support of Laurel and in protest of
Wood's handling of the Conley case.
Gov. Wood tried to win back the support of those Filipino officials who gave up their
position in his government. His gesture was not reciprocated and this prompted him to
accept their resignation and replace them with their deputies. At the height of the crisis,
various accusations were raised against Wood. Quezon and his allies also sent a cable
to President Harding informing him of the reasons why they resigned en masse. They
also told the president that they were planning to send a delegation to the United States
that will explain to him Wood’s blatant disregard of the rights and privileges granted to
Filipinos by the previous administration. The document that will be presented below
basically summarizes the grievances and disgust of Filipino politicians who were
affected by Wood’s reforms and management style.

About the Text:

The document Filipino Grievances Against Governor Wood is an example of a joint
resolution expressing the legislators’ disgust with the way Gov. Wood was running the
affairs of the government. It may also be classified as a protest or a petition letter. Since
the persons behind it and the circumstances surrounding it were highly political, one
could expect that it is loaded with political bias and partisan interest. Readers should be
extra careful and should exercise due diligence in distinguishing what elements are
truthful and what are mere black propaganda. Some of the issues raised here are partly
true but were blown out of proportion in order to discredit the Wood administration.
Wood admitted in his diary that the “Conley case” was only a pretext and the root cause
of his falling out with the Filipino politicians was his refusal to let Quezon run the
government. Lewis Gleeck on his part wrote that the cabinet crisis was provoked by
Quezon who at that time was desperately in need of an election issue that he could use
in his political campaign.
The third paragraph of the document states that what prompted them to write the
resolution was Wood’s issuance of Executive Order No. 37. It abolished the Board of
Control that Gov. Gen. Francis Burton Harrison created during his term. This
development stripped the power of Filipino legislators to oversee the sale and
management of government-owned and controlled corporations. The Board of Control
was important to Filipinos because they were given voting powers and they could even
outvote the governor if they will vote as a block. For them, the Executive Order was
illegal because it violates the principle of separation of powers. Moreover, they claimed
that the governor general has no power to abolish it. Aside from E.O. 37, they also
raised more than twenty other abuses and unjust acts of the governor general. They
characterized Wood as “arbitrary, oppressive and undemocratic.” The last paragraph of
the document states that they are issuing it to appeal to the judgment and conscience of
the American people to support their stand and uphold their political rights.
The text that will be presented below is taken from Gregorio F. Zaide and Sonia Zaide’s
Documentary Sources of Philippine History. The document was originally published as
Appendix of Maximo M. Kalaw’s Philippine Government under the Jones Law.

Complete text of “Filipino Grievances Against Governor

Wood”
More than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the Philippines came under the
American flag-an emblem of freedom, not of subjugation; a symbol of altruism, not of
selfishness or greed. American sovereignty was implanted in our country with the
avowed purpose of training in us in the art of self-government and granting us
independence. Our good, not her gain was to be America’s aim. Our country was
committed to her in trust to be conserved and developed for the benefit of our people.
Believing in the sincerity of America’s purpose, the Filipinos applied themselves to the
task of meeting the conditions exacted of them, anxiously awaiting the day when
America would honor her promise.
The first twenty years of civil government were marked by mutual understanding and
loyal cooperation between American and Filipinos. At the end of that period, when it
seemed that the goal had finally been reached, after the President of the United States
had advised the Congress that the time had come for America to fulfill her sacred
pledge, Major-General Leonard Wood was sent to the Philippines as Governor-General.
Cognizant of the part taken by General Wood in the liberation of Cuba, the Filipino
people expected that under his administration the spirit of cooperation would be
maintained and that the work of political emancipation would be complete. Contrary,
however, to our expectations, his conduct of government has been characterized by a
train of usurpations and arbitrary acts, resulting in the curtailment of our autonomy, the
destruction of our constitutional system, and the reversal of America’s Philippine policy.
This line of conduct recently culminated in the issuance of Executive Order No. 37, by
which he has attempted to nullify laws creating the Board of Control and assumed
functions of the body. The gravity of this last step is more evident when we recall the
series of usurpations theretofore committed by him.
1. He has refused to assent to laws which were the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.
2. He has set at naught both the legal authority and responsibility for the Philippine
heads of departments.
3. He has substituted his constitutional advisers for a group of military attaches
without legal standing in the government and not responsible for the people.
4. He has reversed the policy of Filipinizing the service of the government by
appointing Americans even when Filipinos of proven capacity were available.
 5. He has obstructed the carrying out of national economic policies duly adopted by
the Legislature, merely because they are in conflict with his personal views.
6. He rendered merely perfunctory the power of the Legislature to pass the annual
appropriation law by reviving items in the law of the preceding year, after vetoing
the correspondent items of the current appropriation act, in flagrant violation of
the Organic Law.
7. He has made appointments to positions and authorized the payment of salaries
therefor after having vetoed the appropriations for such salaries.
8. He has used certain public funds to grant additional compensation to public
officials in clear violation of the law.
9. He has arrogated upon himself the right of exercising the powers granted by law
to the Emergency Board after abolishing said board on the ground that its powers
involved an unlawful delegation of legislative authority.
10. He has unduly interfered in the administration of justice.
11. He has refused to obtain the advice of the Senate in making appointments where
such advice is required by the Organic Act.
12. He has refused to submit the Senate appointment for vacancies occurring during
the recess of the Legislature in contravention of the Organic Act.
13. He has continued in office nominees whose appointments had been rejected by
the Senate.
14. He has usurped legislative powers by imposing conditions on legislative measure
approved by him.
15. He has, in the administration of affairs in Mindanao, brought about a condition
which has given rise to discord and dissension between certain groups of
Christian and Mohammedan Filipinos.
16. He has by his policies strained relations between resident Americans and
Filipinos.
17. He has endeavored, on the pretext of getting the government out of business, to
dispose of all the companies capitalized by the government worth many millions
of the people’s money to powerful American interests.
18. He has sanctioned the campaign of insidious propaganda in the United States
against the Filipino people and their aspirations.
19. He has attempted to close the Philippine National Bank so necessary to the
economic development of the country.
20. He has adopted the practice of intervening in, and controlling directly, to its
minute details, the affairs of the Philippine Government, both insular and local, in
violation of self-government.
21. He has insistently sought the amendment of our land laws approved by the
Congress of the United States, which amendment would open up the resources
of the country to exploitation by predatory interests.
Not content with these and other arbitrary acts, the Governor-General has recently
promulgated Executive Order No. 37, declaring that the laws creating and defining the
powers of Board of Control which is authorized to vote the stocks owned by the
government in certain private corporations, are absolute nullities. In the same order the
Governor-General also announced his purpose to exercise solely and by himself the
powers and duties developing upon said board. This executive order is purported to be
based upon an opinion rendered by the Judge Advocate General of the United States
Army and the conformatory opinion of the Acting Advocate General on November 7.
Despite this fact, he has found it convenient to withhold the publication of his order until
November 10, a few hours after the Legislation had adjourned, thus depriving the
Legislature of an opportunity to consider the matter.
The laws creating and defining the powers of the Board of Control have been in force
and acted upon by the present Governor-General and other officers of the government
for a number of years, and they have neither been repealed by the Legislature, annulled
by Congress, nor declared unconstitutional by the courts. To hold that the Governor-
General by a mere executive order can set them aside, is to subvert the whole system
of constitutional government and destroy the theory of separation of powers which the
Governor-General has always been so intent in upholding.
In the face of this critical situation, we, the constitutional representatives of the Filipino
people, met to deliberate upon the present difficulties existing in the Government of the
Philippine Islands and to determine how best to preserve the supremacy and majesty of
the laws and to safeguard the rights and liberties of our people, having faith in the sense
of justice of the people of the United States and inspired by her patriotic example in the
early days of her history, do hereby, in our behalf and in the name of the Filipino people,
solemnly and publicly make known our most vigorous protest against the arbitrary acts
and usurpations of the present Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, particularly
against Executive Order No. 37.
The consciousness of our sacred and inescapable duty to our country and our sense of
loyalty to the people of the United States constrain us to denounce the foregoing acts of
the present Governor-General as arbitrary, oppressive and undemocratic. We appeal to
the judgment and conscience of the American people in justification of our stand and for
the vindication of our rights.

Relevance:
Many of the current historical literatures about the American period deal with the first
two decades of American rule. Their favorite topics were the Filipino-American War,
McKinley’s benevolent assimilation policy, the political, economic and social
transformations that happened during the Taft era and the gradual inclusion of Filipino
politicians in the colonial bureaucracy during Harrison’s time. Many of them were written
by American historians or by their Filipino students. Recently, there is a growing interest
among Filipino scholars to move away from American-oriented historiography and
rewrite Philippine history from Filipino point of view. They paid lesser attention to the
policies and programs of the colonial administrators and focus instead on the reactions
and achievements of Filipino leaders. This trend paved the way to the growing interest
of Filipino historians to examine the contributions of Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmena,
Jose P. Laurel, Manuel Roxas and other personalities who joined the campaign for
independence.
The struggle for independence is a constant and unifying political issue among Filipinos
during the whole American period. From the time Aguinaldo proclaimed it in 1898 until
the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act in 1934, Filipinos demanded it from the
Americans using various means and strategies. Early attempts to win it used violent
means but they failed because they were not able to overcome the superior military
firepower of the Americans. During the middle part of the American period, younger
Filipino politicians worked for independence using the American political system as their
platform. They got themselves elected in public office and campaigned for
independence using their respective positions. Americans preferred this kind of strategy
because it is non-violent and easier to manage.
The document presented above shows that by the 1920’s Filipinos had already the
confidence to debate on equal footing with top ranking American colonial officials like
Gov. Wood. Despite his military background and despotic tendencies, Quezon and his
allies did not hesitate to raise their grievances against him. The complaints that they
enumerated in the document clearly show that the root cause of the anti-Wood
campaign was the decision of the latter to lessen the autonomy of the Philippine
legislature and the increasing interference of the governor-general on some functions
that were turned over already to Filipino officials during the Harrison era. Many Filipinos
felt upset when all of a sudden they lost control and jurisdiction on certain government
functions that for several years were already part of their regular function. They also felt
offended when Wood appointed Americans to occupy key positions in the government
even if Filipinos of proven capacity were available. For them, the re-Americanization of
the bureaucracy would make them irrelevant and it would surely delay the giving of
independence. These developments forced Filipinos to set aside their personal and
political interests and formed a united stand against the Wood administration.
The document presented above is also relevant in the study of Philippine history
because it exposes the other side of the Harrison administration. Much of what people
know about this era centered on the Filipinization of the bureaucracy and the gradual
ascension of local politicians to key positions in the government. When Wood came in,
he exposed the negative effects of Harrison’s failure to put up safety measures that will
prevent newly appointed and elected Filipinos from using their position to enrich
themselves at the expense of the government and other people. He did not hesitate to
veto the poorly crafted legislative outputs of both houses of congress and he also
publicized the true financial state of the Philippine National Bank and other government
owned and controlled corporation. Wood specifically explained that the P.N.B. debacle
was the result of the illegal transfer of deposit from New York to Manila, inexperienced
management, dishonestly and reckless extension of credit to well connected Filipino
businessmen. It appears that Filipinos hated Wood not because he was pro-American
but because he implemented measures that prevented wasteful politicians from making
extravagant appropriations. It also insinuates that not all critics of Wood’s administration
were clean and with noble intention when they campaigned for Philippine
independence. Some were just employing diversionary tactics to direct the attention of
the Filipinos away from their corrupt practices.