76 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition 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, when the Republic of the Philippines was established. From 1941 to 1944, the Commonwealth was superseded by the Japanese occupation. The American offensive in the Pacic 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 rst President. Periodic presidential elections were held every four years from 1946 to 1969. The Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, Macapagal and Marcos administrations were installed in ofce via the electoral procedure stipulated in the Constitution. The Marcos administration is unique because this was the only one that had 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 primarily because of the holding of regular elections. However, the people were by and large excluded from governance after these elections. The competing factions of the economic elite, mostly regional dynasties, dominated politics (Caoili in Morada and Encarnacion Tadem 2006: 264-65). This phenomenon has been called “feckless pluralism” (Carothers 2002: 11). On September 21, 1972, nine months before the expiration of his second and last term as president, Marcos proclaimed martial law. This reversed our democratization and allowed Marcos to establish an authoritarian regime. Congress was abolished and the Supreme Court lent judicial legitimacy to his authoritarian government. For 14 long years, Marcos ruled the country by decree. The long dark night of authoritarianism was actually an “executive