Taft Commission


The Taft Commission, also known as the Second Philippine Commission, was established by United States President William McKinley on March 16, 1900, following the recommendations of the First Philippine Commission, using presidential war powers while the United States was engaged in the Philippine–American War.
McKinley's letter of instruction to the commission defined American policies and intentions which make cultural and economic progress, acquire skill in self-government, and eventually progress to national independence. Emilio Aguinaldo, who led the Philippine war against America, wrote retrospectively in 1957 that McKinley's instructions to the commission would "prove one of the most important documents in the history of international relations."
The Second Commission was at first the sole legislative body of the Philippines, then known as the Philippine Islands under the sovereign control of the U.S. After the passage of the Philippine Organic Act in 1902, the Commission functioned as the house of a bicameral legislature until it was supplanted by an elected legislature established in 1916 by the Philippine Autonomy Act.
William Howard Taft was the first head of the Philippine Commission from March 16, 1900 until July 4, 1901, after which the commission's head also became the Civil Governor of the Philippines. Taft served in that office until January 31, 1904, when he was appointed Secretary of War by President Theodore Roosevelt. Taft was succeeded by vice-governor Luke Edward Wright and the Philippine Commission was subsequently headed by a number of persons, but is often mentioned informally and collectively as the "Taft Commission".

Background

The Second Philippine Commission, established by President William McKinley on March 16, 1900, and headed by William Howard Taft, was granted legislative as well as limited executive powers. Between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws, established a judicial system, including a Supreme Court, drew up a legal code, and organized a civil service. The 1901 municipal code provided for popularly elected presidentes, vicepresidentes, and councilors to serve on municipal boards. The municipal board members were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining municipal properties, and undertaking necessary construction projects; they also elected provincial governors.

Commission membership

Timeline

Legislative powers

Background

Article 1, Section 1 of the United States Constitution specifies that the U.S. Congress exercises legislative power. Since the Philippines was in a state of war, however, the Executive Branch ran affairs there without much congressional intervention. President McKinley's instruction to the Philippine Commission in April 1900 directed that, "... Beginning with the 1 day of September 1900, the authority to exercise that part of the power of government in the Philippine Islands which is legislative, is to be transferred from the Military Governor to this commission." The instruction also gave the Commission the power to appoint officers under the judicial, educational, and civil service systems and in the municipal and departmental governments. The instruction charged the Commission, "... In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to proscribe, the Commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine islands, and measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of just and effective government.". Mindful of pacification efforts following the Philippine–American War and as an early step towards to preparing the Philippines for eventual self-governance, in 1903 the commission passed the Pensionado Act establishing a scholarship program for Filipinos to attend school in the United States and allocating $72,000 for the purpose.
In a statement published on September 1, 1900, the commissioners announced the holding of public meetings every Wednesday and Friday to allow interested parties to comment and make suggestions on proposed legislative matters. The open sessions were mainly conducted in English and Spanish. As the Americans became familiar with Spanish, the commissioners allowed their guests to use the language of their choice. William Forbes, later Governor General of the Philippines, wrote that he could not remember any instance where a commissioner protested because he could not understand an issue on linguistic grounds.

Spooner Amendment

A few months before the inauguration of Taft as governor-general, Senator John Spooner filed a bill giving unprecedented powers to the executive branch in the development of colonial policy in the Philippines. The Democrats ferociously attacked the bill, resurrecting anti-imperialist arguments they had employed at the time of the Treaty of Paris. By February 1900, a filibuster was in full cry, with the Democrats determined to curb the powers of the Philippine Commission and reserve for Congress the right to grant franchises and sell lands in the Philippines. The Spooner bill was rejected on September 1, 1900, but McKinley nevertheless granted the Taft commission legislative powers. Legislators repackaged it as an amendment to the 1901 Army Appropriation Bill.
The passage of the Spooner amendment was a significant milestone in the development of U.S.–Philippine policy because it allowed the president to govern the Philippines by the authority of Congress and not by his wartime authority as commander in chief. Emilio Aguinaldo wrote in 1957 that the Spooner Amendment had laid the basis of a far-sighted and enlightened economic policy in the Philippines.

Philippine Organic Act

The Philippine Organic Act of July 1902 was a basic law for the Insular Government. The act provided that future appointments of the civil governor, vice-governor, members the Philippine Commission, and heads of Executive Departments shall be made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The act also provided for the establishment of a bicameral legislature composed of a lower house, the Philippine Assembly, which would be popularly elected, and an upper house consisting of the Philippine Commission. The two houses would share legislative powers, although the upper house alone would pass laws relating to the Moros and other non-Christian peoples. The act also provided for extending the United States Bill of Rights to Filipinos and sending two Filipino resident commissioners to Washington to attend sessions of the United States Congress. The Philippine Assembly elections of 1907 were held on July 30, 1907 and the 1st Philippine Legislature opened its first session on October 16, 1907.

Legislation

The Taft Commission promulgated a total of 157 laws between September 1900 and July 4, 1901, when Taft became Civil Governor, classified as follows:
ClassificationQuantityPercent
Local Government4629.30
Reorganization of Government Agencies4025.48
Appropriations for Government Expenditures3321.02
Judicial Reforms127.65
Economic and Tariff95.73
Public Works Projects74.46
Public Health42.55
Anti-Sedition21.27
Church21.27
Education21.27
Totals157100.00

Following the advice of McKinley to start at the bottom and gradually move upward, over seventy percent of the laws dealt with local government and the bureaucracy; with more than half of these being acts extending the provision of the Provincial Government Act to the different provinces. Others were acts establishing municipalities, and the rest concerned the local police.
The thirty-three appropriations laws passed were appropriations to pay certain expenses not covered by the General Appropriations Act, including salaries of government employees, burial benefits for victims of the war, funds for the construction of roads and bridges, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Specific major items of legislation

Reorganization of local government units

The Commission created and reorganized government offices, including the following:
ActOffice
Act No. 7Bureau of Statistics
Act No. 16Bureau of Forestry
Act No. 17Bureau of Mining
Act No. 20Office of the Auditor
Act No. 46Inspectors of Customs
Act No. 157Board of Health

President McKinley had declared in his message to Congress in December 1899 that Philippine reconstruction should proceed by building up from the bottom. McKinley's instruction to the Commission stressed that the establishment of civilian government should start from the smallest unit of political organization and gradually move towards Manila. In compliance with this, on January 31, 1901, the Commission enacted Act No. 82, a Municipal Code to guide the formation and management of towns, and six days later, Act No. 83, a which dealt with the procedure for the creation of provincial governments. Both acts were titled A General Act for the Organization of Municipal Governments in the Philippines.
In some instances, the Commission doled out government offices to persuade leaders of the resistance movement to give up the fight. General Martin Delgado, for example, was appointed the governor of Iloilo and similar moves were done in Cavite, Bulacan, and Laguna with the appointment of Mariano Trias, Pablo Tecson, and Juan Cailles, respectively.
NamePosition under the
Aguinaldo Administration		Position under the
Taft Administration
Cayetano ArellanoSecretary of StateChief Justice
Victorino MapaCounselor of the Revolutionary GovernmentAssociate Justice
T.H. Pardo de TaveraAssistant Secretary of StateCommissioner
Benito LagardaVice President of the Malalos CongressCommissioner
Jose LuzuriagaPresident of the Reverend Congress of PanayCommissioner
Felipe BuencaminoSecretary of StateCivil Service Board
Felix RoxasMember of the Filipino Junta in ParisGovernor of Batangas
Ignacio VillamorMalolos Congress delegateJudge
Gregorio S. AranetaSecretary of JusticeSolicitor General
Martin Teofilo DelgadoCommanding General of PanayGovernor of Iloilo
Ambrosio FloresAssistant Secretary of WarGovernor of Rizal
Mariano TriasSecretary of WarGovernor of Cavite
Jose SerapioColonel of the Revolutionary ArmyGovernor of Bulacan
Gracio GonzagaSecretary of the InteriorGovernor of Cagayan
Arsenio Cruz HerreraAssistant Secretary of InteriorPresident of the Municipal Board of Manila
Jose AlejandrinoGeneral of the Revolutionary ArmyCity Engineer of Manila
Modesto ReyesMember of the Filipino Junta in ParisCity Attorney of Manila
Daniel TironaSecretary of WarProvincial Secretary of Cavite
Mariano CunananMajor in the Revolutionary ArmyPrincipal Secretary of Pampanga
Mariano CrisostomoMalolos Congress DelegateProvincial Fiscal of Bulacan