Filipino forum. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1928-196?, 1950-07-01
History and Government

rule, began new existence as a
sovereign nation. Prior to this his
toric event, for nearly 400 years
until 1898, the islands had been a
colony of Spain and had passed
the next 4SS years under the flag
of the United States of America.
During the latter period, the even
tual achievement of independence
was definitely planned objective
in which the Filipinos shared the
warm sympathy and full support
of the American people.
The government, defined by
written constitution is republican
in form. The chief executive is
president elected for a four-year
term. There is a bicameral legisla-
ture comprising the Senate and the
House of Representatives. The
members of the Senate, of whom
there are "a, are elected to six-year
terms. The representatives are
elected to four-year terms. The
constitution provides that there
shall never be more than 100 rep
resentatives; currently there are
100 The federal judiciary system
i is composed of a Supreme Court,
established under the constitution,
and various inferior courts.
The first elected President of the
new Republic was Manuel A.
Roxas. Upon his death on April is,
1948, he was succeeded in office
by Vice President Elpidio Quirino.
: AS result of the election of No
vember 8, 1949, President Quirino
was returned to office for a full
four-year term.
Geographic and Population Data
The Philippine archipelago is
southeast of the continent of Asia,
rs miles south of the island of For
mosa and SO miles north of Borneo.
It is 1000 miles from San Francisco
and nearly 5000 miles from Pearl
Harbor. In the shape of huge tri-
angle, it extends 1852 miles north
and south, 688 miles east and west.
The total area of the Philippines
! is 115,600 square miles, including
some 7,l00 islands and islets. This
land area is larger than the COM
bined areas of New York, New Jer-
sey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Luzon and Mindanao are the larg-
est of the islands with areas of 49,
420 and 36,537 square miles, re-
spectively. Much of the archipelago
is mountainous and billy, or COW
cred with tropical forests, but there
are ALSO fertile costal plans as well
as four large river valleys. The
climate is typical of the wet
tropics.
The population as determined by
the 1948 census is approximately
19,250,000. There are three princi-
pal religions: Roman Catholic,
Protestant and Mohammedan.
About 80 per cent of the people
profess the Roman Catholic faith.
Quezon City, named for the late
Manuel l.. Quezon, first President
of the Commonwealth under the
United States, has recently been
designated as the capital of the Re-
public. It is located just northeast
of Manila, the leading metropolis
and chief seaport of the islands,
where government business is still
transacted. Normally Manila han
dies almost 90 per cent of the i'm
port trade and high proportion of
exports. Cebu, the second most
populous city, is also an important
seaport, particularly for domestic
exports.
Reconstruction
Remarkable strides in recon
struction and rehabilitation have
been made in the Philippines since
the END of World War ii. At first
even the most optimistic persons
predicted that 10 to is years would
be needed in order to accomplish
reasonable return to normally.
However, in only few short years
the greater portion of the task of
rehabilitation has already been