Statement on Signing Joint Resolutions on Philippine Independence and Rehabilitation

I have signed today two joint resolutions of Congress respecting the Philippines. The first of these resolutions lays down a policy for the granting of independence, and for the acquisition of bases adequate to provide for the mutual protection of the United States and the Philippine Islands.

In that resolution it is declared to be the policy of "the Congress that the United States shall drive the treacherous, invading Japanese from the Philippine Islands, restore as quickly as possible the orderly, free democratic processes of government to the Filipino people, and thereupon establish the complete independence of the Philippine Islands as a separate self-governing Nation." The measure makes it possible to proclaim independence as soon as practicable after constitutional processes and normal functions of government have been restored in the Philippines.

It is contemplated that as soon as conditions warrant, civil government will be set up under constitutional officers. It will be their duty forthwith to take emergency measures to alleviate the physical and economic hardships of the Philippine people, and to prepare the Commonwealth to receive and exercise the independence which we have promised them. The latter includes two tasks of great importance: those who have collaborated with the enemy must be removed from authority and influence over the political and economic life of the country; and the democratic form of government guaranteed in the Constitution of the Philippines must be restored for the benefit of the people of the islands.

On the problem of bases, the present Organic Act permitted acquisition only of naval bases and fueling stations, a situation wholly inadequate to meet the conditions of modern warfare. The measure approved today will permit the acquisition of air and land bases in addition to naval bases and fueling stations. I have been informed that this action is most welcome to Commonwealth authorities, and that they will gladly cooperate in the establishment and maintenance of bases both as a restored Commonwealth and as an independent Nation. By this we shall have an outstanding example of cooperation designed to prevent a recurrence of armed aggression and to assure the peaceful use of a great ocean by those in pursuit of peaceful ends.

The second joint resolution signed today brings into effect the joint economic commission first ordained in the present Organic Act, and enlarges its scope to include consideration of proposals for the economic and financial rehabilitation of the Philippines.

We are ever mindful of the heroic role of the Philippines and their people in the present conflict. Theirs is the only substantial area and theirs the only substantial population under the American flag to suffer lengthy invasion by the enemy. History will attest the heroic resistance of the combined armies of the United States and the Philippines in Luzon, Cebu, Iloilo, and other islands of the archipelago. Our character as a Nation will be judged for years to come by the human understanding and the physical efficiency with which we help in the immense task of rehabilitating the Philippines. The resolution creates the Philippine Rehabilitation Commission whose functions shall be to study all aspects of the problem, and after due investigation report its recommendations to the President of the United States and the Congress, and to the President and the Congress of the Philippines.