96 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy Filipino Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in the person of Cayetano Arellano, completed the presence of Filipinos in the high councils of the American colonial government. The American Governor-General headed the executive branch, while the legislative assembly and judiciary were headed by Filipinos. This process was called the Filipinization of the colonial government. The prominent government leaders were Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Cayetano Arellano and Jose Laurel, among others. The process of self-government proceeded with the enactment of the Jones Law, and culminated with the passage by the American Congress of the Philippine Independence Act. This law called for the convening of a constitutional convention for the purpose of formulating the Constitution of the Philippines. The law also envisioned the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines as the ten-year transition period between the colonial and independent status of the Archipelago. The constitutional convention adopted the Presidential form of the American government. The Commonwealth government was established based on this constitution, now called the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. The Commonwealth was inaugurated in 1935 and ended in 1946, after the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines. From 1941 to 1944, the Commonwealth was superseded by the Japanese occupation. The American offensive in the Pacific theater militarily defeated the Japanese in the Philippines and proceeded to force the unconditional surrender of Japan by the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The American occupation of Japan ended the nightmare of World War II. Democratization—Reversal—Redemocratization and What Lies Beyond As envisioned in the Independence Act, the Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated on July 4, 1946. Manuel Roxas was elected the first President. Periodic Presidential elections were held every four years from 1946 to 1969. The Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, Macapagal and Marcos administrations were installed in office via the electoral procedure stipulated in the Constitution. The Marcos administration is unique because his was the only administration that had served a second term. This succession of elected administrations showed that the Philippines appeared to have, a democratic government. But even at that time, the domination of the economy and politics by the elites, graft and corruption, and abuse of authority, had raised serious questions about our country's democratic façade. The political system seemed democratic in form because periodic elections had been held. However, the people were by and large excluded from governance after these elections. The competing factions of