From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector The Philippine Constabulary and the Philippine Scouts were used to quell peasant uprisings arising from this policy. location of rural populations in overcrowded villages for the purpose of isolating guerrillas fighting the government. The national average of tenancy in the Philippines increased from 54 percent in 1903 to 60 percent in 1948. On August 23, 1907, another repressive law was enacted. It was known as Act No. 1696 or the Flag Law, which banned the public display of flags, banners, emblems, or devices that were used during the Philippine-American War, including the flags, banners, emblems and symbols of the Katipunan (KKK). b) The Sedition Law, Brigandage Act, Reconcentration Act and the Flag Law Patriotism and the aspirations for nationhood became a terrible crime. Howard Taft, head of the Philippine Commission, issued a very unpopular law in the same year (November 4, 1901), the Sedition Law or Act No. 292. It prohibited any Filipino from advocating independence or separation from the United States. It declared unlawful any peaceful or overt means such as speech, printing, publication and circulation of any material that encourages the Filipinos to fight against American rule. This resulted in the imposition of the death penalty or long imprisonment to many nationalist leaders. Another law, the Brigandage Act (Act No. 518), criminalized rebellion by equating it with banditry. Any three persons or more caught armed with bolos roaming the highway or the country were subject to the Brigandage Act. This effectively classified all acts of rebellion as plain banditry. In 1903, the Reconcentration Act took effect, allowing the re76 Plays such as Hindi Aco Patay written by Juan Matapang Cruz, Tanikalang Guinto by Juan Abad, and Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas by Aurelio Tolentino were considered seditious, and their authors, actors and spectators were arrested and imprisoned. 6. What was the 1935 military reorganization of the Philippine Commonwealth? Based on the advise of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the 1935 National Defense Act was passed into law by the commonwealth government of President Quezon in preparation for the granting of Philippine Independence. It called for the creation of a Commonwealth Army under a defense program that Quezon said “must be carried out economically” with a “passively defensive” orientation.28