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.

362 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS
tablishment of the Philippine Republic, many years before the Chinese,
Turkish, Greek and other republics created in Asia and Central
Europe.
In the struggle of the Filipinos against the Spanish Government
in 1898, the United States, in the name of altruism and liberty, offered
her assistance to the Filipino people to overthrow the Spanish rule
and promised them that she would recognize their independence as
soon as peace and order reigned in the country.
The Filipinos had trusted the word of the American nation and
since the early days of 1898 the United States and the Philippines
became friends and allies. They fought together against Spain.
Later when the United States declared war against Germany, the
Filipinos gladly assisted the Americans, pledging their lives and resources' for the triumph of the ideals of the American nation.
The bond of friendship and good will between the Americans
and Filipinos became stronger, the Filipinos looking up to the United
States with filial love and eternal gratitude. The struggle of the
Filipino people for freedom and national self-respect is somewhat different from that of the colonies belonging to other nations. The
Filipinos have no illfeeling or hatred against the Americans. They
have been, and are still, faithful and loyal to the Americans, as friends
and as allies. They appreciate the blessings of the American rule.
The effort of the American nation to experiment in the East the
establishment of a democracy modelled after the American pattern
has been so successful that the Philippines can claim today, and
produce evidence to show, that she is in a better position and more
qualified, politically and economically, to assume all the attributes of
independence, freedom and sovereignty than more than two-thirds of
the nations of the world who are today free and independent.
So far the Americans have been fair and just with the Filipinos:
they have been fulfilling one by one their promises, as evidenced by
the passage by the American Congress of many laws which resulted
in placing almost all the functions of the government of the Philippines into the hands of Filipino citizens.
The time has come for the American nation to finish her noble
and altruistic work: to carry out the sacred promise contained in a
congressional measure, the Jones Law, in view of the fact that the
Filipino people have already succeeded in establishing a stable government in their country, the only condition set forth as prerequisite
to the granting of their independence.
The Filipinos still have faith in the nobility and greatness of
the American nation. They realize that nowadays there is a reawakening of modern America. The American citizens of today are
looking back with respect to their history, traditions and ideals.
The Filipino people trust that the United States will now fulfill
her promise of independence to the Philippines, thus adding another
brilliant record to her history already replete with glorious and heroic
deeds.
THEREFORE, under this impression and understanding, we are
sure that the Congress of the United States will soon act favorably
on the recommendation of the late President Woodrow Wilson, dated
December 2, 1920, that the Philippines be granted her most coveted
independence: we are also convinced that, as the cause of the Filipino
people is just and holy, God, who is merciful, can never forsake us,