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.

DEFENSE AND COMMUNICATIONS

245

islands, we have to defend an extensive area and we can be
very easily blockaded and cut off from the rest of the world.
If America decides to reserve in the Philippines coal stations,
for her fleet in the Extreme Orient, which are entirely isolated
from the rest of our territory, the problem of our national
defense will be more complicated and exposed to conflicts.
Our duty of neutrality will oblige us to defend the interference on these bases against any enemy of the United States,
and to prevent attack on our own territory and in case of impotence, the American forces themselves can take charge of the
defense and the fight with all its consequences if such happen
on our own ground.
If any of these bases be taken by the enemy and the American forces that guard them leave our territory unarmed respecting our neutrality, their enemies in turn can fight them on
our own soil, and we shall suffer all the horrors of the war
without at last gaining anything and without even the right
to exact indemnity for damages done to us. Such happened
in China during the Ru'so-Japanese war.
This dangerous situation may be prevented if the United
States will agree to establish her bases in far away islands with
the defense entirely in her own charge.
Undoubtedly our condition as an archipelago will call for
its ideal defense, the construction and maintenance of a powerful
squad; for the squads, though not very convenient for immediate defence, cost less than the war navy which can only
be maintained by first class nations. The nations of the third
and fourth order that possess some warships cannot depend
on them in facing the navy of any of the powerful nations
which are the only ones that might do us an aggression. On
the other hand, though the squads can serve both for the defensive and offensive, they may be attributed as a pretension
to wish to take an active part in the politics of this part of
the world and disturb its peace. Besides the nations will limit
the number and tonnage of the ships which we can construct
in such a way that they cannot face the other nations' war
fleet and they will only constitute a heavy burden for us without fulfilling its objective.