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.

154 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

senate in the Philippines, irrespective of whether this type was
the one needed by the country or not. The writer is one of
those who believe that probably the Philippine Senate should
have been constituted in a somewhat different way. Anyway
the people should have been allowed to determine what kind
of a-senate they wanted. Again in the same Jones law it is
not clear to many as to whether the presidential type of government was meant for the Philippines or the parliamentary type,
although the writer again recalls that the Jones Law did not
prohibit representatives or senators from occupying cabinet positions. The author probably intended to have some modification of the presidential type. What the writer maintains is
that under the circumstances, even with the limited autonomy
that the people of the Philippines have under America, they
should have been allowed to decide on the form of government
they want to establish.
Finally the independence question itself is the greatest deterrent to the political development of the Philippines. So long
as that question remains unsolved, real political progress is
practically impossible. Every other political issue is overshadowed by independence and no real party system is developed. Independence has been the one major issue of
Philippine politics ever since our first election. It was the issue
in 1907 when the Federal Party which had been put into
power by Mr. Taft and which favored ultimate instead of
immediate independence was opposed by the Nationalist Party
which favored immediate independence. The Nationalist Party
won that election by an overwhelming majority and this party
has been in power up to the present time because of that issue.
The Nationalist leaders always point out to the people the
fact that they were the first to raise the banner of immediate
independence, thus meriting the people's confidence, and therefore they should be supported on that issue all the time, otherwise America will think that the Philippines are no longer for
independence. The Democrata Party which succeeded the old
Federal and Progresista Parties changed its platform and became
just as radical if not more so in its protestations for independence as the Nationalist Party. But Senator Osmefia, one of
the Nationalist leaders, believes that one of the reasons why the