Message to Congress Requesting Authority to Proclaim a Free Philippines.

To the Congress:

Since the Japanese launched their attack on the Philippine Islands, I have on several occasions addressed messages on behalf of the American people to the courageous people of the Philippines- expressing our admiration of their heroism and loyalty. I have assured them that the Government of the United States of America will see to it that their independence will be promptly established and—still more important-that it will be protected. The resources of the United States, in men and material, stand behind that pledge to the people of the Philippines. We shall keep that promise just as we have kept every promise which the United States has made to the Filipino people.

The Philippine Government, now in the United States, has been collaborating with the rest of the United Nations in the united task of destroying our common enemies in the East and in the West. As I stated on August 12, 1943, the United States, in practice, regards the Philippines as having now the same status as the Governments of other independent Nations—in fact all the attributes of complete and respected nationhood.

I am sure that the American people believe that the Filipino people have earned the right juridically to be free and independent.

The date now set by statute and by the vote of the people and the Legislature of the Philippine Islands for independence is July 4, 1946. It is possible, however, that the fortunes of war will permit an earlier consummation of this joint will of the American and Filipino peoples.

I, therefore, recommend legislation by the Congress giving the President the authority, after consultation with the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands, to advance the date provided in existing law and to proclaim the legal independence of the Philippines, as a separate and self-governing Nation, as soon as feasible.

If the Congress takes this action, there are several steps which, in my opinion, are necessary to make good our pledge that the independence of the Philippines will be protected in the future and to give them the opportunity of economic rehabilitation which is their due.

I, therefore, also recommend:

1. That the Congress make provision authorizing the President of the United States and the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands to enter into immediate negotiations and take the necessary steps to provide for full security for the Philippines, for the mutual protection of the Islands and of the United States, and for the future maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

2. That the Congress make provision for determining the adjustment necessary in the existing provisions of law which govern the economic relations between the United States and the Philippines, so as to assist in making the Philippines, as an independent Nation, economically secure wherever possible.

3. That the Congress make provision for the physical and economic rehabilitation of the Philippines made necessary by the ravages of war which the invaders have inflicted upon them.

All of this is due to the Filipino people in recognition of their heroic role in this war, the political ties which have bound us together, and the bonds of friendship which will join us together in the future.

Such action on the part of the Congress would assure the Philippine people again of our sincerity of purpose, and of our resolution to accord them as soon as feasible the legal status of complete freedom, independence, and nationhood to which, as a member of the United Nations, they are entitled.