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.

NATIONAL DEFENSE AND COMMUNICATIONS SECTION
The session of the National Defense and Communications Section of the First Independence Congress was held at 9:30 A. M. on February 24, 1930,
with General Tomas Mascardo as Chairman. The
first speaker was General Jose Alejandrino. He read
the following paper:
THE STAMBOULISKI SYSTEM AND OUR NATIONAL
DEFENSE
By GEN. JosP ALEJANDRINO
Ex-General of the Revolution, Ex-Senator and Distinguished
Member of the Democrata Party
Considering the progress which we have made in all aspects
of life, there is no doubt that our country is actually more
deserving of independence than it was thirty-one years ago,
but if the right to independence will depend only on our capacity to maintain the integrity of our territory, we can affirm
that, owing precisely to the material progress which we have
made, this capacity to repel an invasion is now less than it
was then. We could resist the American forces for over two
years on account of the difficulty of communications and the
possibility of sustaining the "guerrilla" warfare at that time.
At present I do not believe we can resist for a single month
the American army though we be better armed than in '98,
taking into consideration the facilitates which our roads and
other means of communication would offer for its advance and
the progress of military science.
243