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.

LAST PLENARY SESSION

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nomic ruin of the country and that this country once separated
from America would easily be a victim of the voracity of the
great powers of the Pacific. But, behind that cape of altruism
hides the fear that their great investments would not find the
same protection which is found under the dominion of their
country.
We should tell those augurers of disaster and bankruptcy that
their fears are not well founded; that if we come to be independent due to the recognition of our own worth by the Congress of the United States, the Filipinos, as a people and as
individuals, would give to the capitalists, merchants, and
American products greater protection than we now, in our
state of dependence, receive for ourselves; and that instead of
considering them as our bosses, dominators, and invaders, we
would look upon them as our benefactors, and their investments would be guaranteed, not only with the might of the
Philippine Government but also by the might of the affection
and gratitude of the whole people. The material power may
be destroyed by a superior power: It is ephimeral, but the
power that creates affection and gratitude is perennial.
The danger that the Philippines, once independent would
be easily seized by Japan's voracity or by another neighboring power, as China, is remote. Not only by certain ethnical
affinity between our country and those nations, not only
because the current pacifists are flooding the whole world, having learned the lesson from the horrors of the past universal
conflagration, but because there is a movement of mutual sym.
pathy and attraction between related races that we should not
fear such danger. It is not easy for a strong nation to abuse
of the weakness of another.
It does not matter if the Philippines be only a dot in the
world map. But her commercial relations with the great
powers, as America, England, France, and with even Japan
and China, would constitute a solid guarantee of the stability
of our independence and would remove the dangers that are
much feared by those who oppose our independence.