Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

150 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

Mr. Leonardo Lazaro moved that the Committee
on Resolutions of the Congress be instructed to frame
and submit to the Congress a resolution of condolence
for the respective families of the delegates to the
Congress who. died, namely, President Punzalan of
Guinobatan, Albay, and Mr. Jose Celis, of Negros
Occidental.
The meeting was adjourned at 12: 15 P. M.
THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES UNDER INDEPENDENCE
(Paper prepared by DEAN MAXIMO M. KALAW for the Political
Section of the First Independence Congress)
The supporters of the independence movement in the Philippines believe that the progressive political development of
the country can be better effected under independence than under
the government of the United States. They contend that
President McKinley's ideal of teaching the people of the Philippines the art of self-government can now be best realized
under an independent status.
The more radical of them even believe that, from the standpoint of development in self-government, the Philippines would
have fared better if in 1899 she had been left alone to work
out the institutions that she established when she separated from
Spain. They maintain that if America had really only wanted
to see that the Filipinos develop a government which was both
liberal and orderly, progressive and adapted to their needs,
the thing that should have been done was to let the Philippine
Republic alone. It may be remembered that when the United
States decided to stay in the Philippines there was already
established in the Islands a republican form of government that
had merited the praise of American observers who had come
to the Philippines at that time. Dewey had considered the
Filipinos more capable of self-government than the Cubans.
Mr. Barrett of the Pan-American Union had high regard for
the members of the Malolos Congress, which was partly elective