The American occupation of the Philippines from 1898-1946 had both positive and negative impacts. Positively, it introduced reforms like universal education, public health initiatives, and economic development. It expanded individual freedoms and democratic traditions. However, it also made the Philippine economy dependent on the US and led to the partial loss of Filipino culture and heritage. While material conditions improved, it created issues like cultural confusion, colonial mentality, and distorted values.

1. The Result of the American
Occupation

2. In consonance with President McKinley’s
“Benevolent Assimilation” Proclamation, the US
introduced in the PH a regime of democratic
partnership wherein the Filipinos played the role
of junior partners

3.  Universal education
 Public Health and welfare
 Commerce, Industry and trade
 Basic individual freedoms
 Means of transportation and communication
 Political Consciousness

4.  General economic independence in the United
States
 Partial loss of racial heritage
 Continuance of the colonial mentality
 Distorted sense of values

5.  Public Education – greatest contribution of the
United States to Philippine civilization
 The American Educational system emphasized
the democratic traditions and practical
applications of laws and principles
 The relegation of religion was optional in the
public school system rather than compulsory
because of the Separation of the Church from
the State

6.  English language were taught
• 7 schools in Manila and many more were opened as
the condition of peace and order permitted
 Enrolment in the public school was compulsory
• 1899-1900 =100,000 Filipino children were enrolled
• Free books, pencils and other school supplies
 American soldiers were the first public school
teachers and were later on replaced by
Thomasites
 American teachers who came to the PH on board the
S.S. Thomas

7.  1903 – 1914, Filipino children who showed
aptitudes in some branches of learning were
sent to the US as pensionados
• upon their return, they either taught school or worked
in government offices
 The American system prepared the Filipino not
only for teaching, but also for administrative
service, an asset in the Filipinization of the
government

8.  Higher Education
• State-supported University of the PH (1908)
• Some educational institutions
 University of Sto. Tomas
 The Escuela de Derecho ( School of Law )
 The Instituto Burgos ( Burgos Institute )
 Examinations were conducted in English. Thus,
English came to be the language of instructions
in all schools, colleges and universities - a fact
which explains why English is understood
throughout the Philippines

9.  Increase in literacy rate
• Spanish period – 5-8%
• American period (1st census) 1903 – 44.2%
• American period (2nd census) 1918 – 49.2%
• Commonwealth was inaugurated 1935 – 65%
 Adult Education was experimented by American
missionaries in the non-Christian areas from the
early years of the American occupation, but it
was not until 1933 that it became a movement

10.  Introduction of scientific program of public health
and welfare by the Spanish colonial government
• Vaccination
• Bureau of Health(1806)
• Central Council of Vaccination (1851)
 American period
• Spread of diseases were minimized
• Quarantine service was established
 Supervised by American doctors and public health
officers
• Infant mortality and the incidence of malaria and other
diseases were reduced considerably
• Hygiene and sanitation were taught

11.  Took away Filipino’s fallacies and beliefs in
superstitions but this task is difficult
 The Board of Public Health (1901) then became
a Bureau signaled the intensified campaign for
improved public health and eradication of
superstitions and ignorance
 Death rate per 1000 persons
• 1898 = 30.5%,
• 1907 = 21.29%
• 1917-1918 = cholera and smallpox epidemics
broke out

12.  Provided facilities for the release of human
misery and misfortune
• Asylum for orphans and juvenile offenders
• Vocational training resulted to their moral and physical
rehabilitation
 Decreased mortality rate
 Improved standard of living
 Salt-and-rice nutrition was replaced by a
balanced diet that resulted in physical
robustness
• From 5’2 – 5’4 improved to 5’4 -5’6
• With improved balanced diet, exercise and sports

13.  Free trade relations with the US
• 1902 : Reduction of 25% was allowed on goods
coming from the Philippines
• 1909 : American Congress passed the Payne-
Aldrich Tariff Act
 All PH exports, except rice, were allowed to enter
American markets free of duty w/in certain quota limits
• 1913 : American Congress passed the Simmons-
Underwood Tariff Act
 Quota limitations were abolished on PH export product
like hemp, sugar and tobacco

14. PH foreign trade rose to unheard-of
proportions
• 1900-1909 = 60.9 million pesos
• 1910-1914 = 94.7 million pesos
• 1914-1918 =177.3 million pesos
• 1919-1924 = 234.7 million pesos
• 1925-1930 = 297.9 million pesos
• 1930-1935 = 213.2 million pesos
 Worldwide economic depression

15.  Domestic trade likewise developed
• 1917 – P 400,197,966
• 1935 – P 631,614,000
 Domestic trade was low compared with
foreign trade because the internal trade of the
country was mostly in the hands of the aliens
• Chinese – 50%
• Filipino – 25%
• Japanese – 20%
• Other nationalities – 5%

16. Factories Development
• Textile, cigar and cigarette factories multiplied
• Sawmills, coconut oil mills, cordage factories,
fishing and fish canning, alcohol distilleries and
sugar centrals were established
• Mining – one of the most important industries
became the backbone of Philippine economy
 1929 – P 6,740,781
 1935 – P 31,979,030
• Household industries
 1918 – P 16, 500,000
 1935 – P 50,000,000

17.  While it improved the standard of living, it was
nevertheless artificial, for economic prosperity
was dependent on a relation that was basically
unsound
 Most of the PH exports went to American market
 Other foreign markets were neglected so that the
closure of American ports to undutiable PH
exports resulted in economic dislocation

18.  Speaker Sergio Osmeña and Resident
Commissioner Manuel L. Quezon opposed free
trade relations
 Philippines dependence on the American
markets would endanger the political
independence of the country
 Tydings-McDuffie Independence Act of 1934
• Restrictions on the exporrtation of PH sugar, tobacco, hemp
and coconut
• These restrictions wreaked havoc on PH economy, for
the surplus products that could no longer enter the
American markets free of duty had a hard time finding
other foreign market

19. The over-all effect of the Philippine-
American free trade relations was
therefore the placing of the Philippine
economy at the mercy of the Americans

20.  Road
• Spanish period - Less than 1000 miles of road
• By1935 - Increased to 12,912.12
 Bridges and culverts
• In 1898 – 2600, then in 1935 – 8100
 Transportation
• From ancient bull carts, carretelas and calesas existed
the cars, trucks and railway cars
 Railway
• 1903 – 195 km of railway
• 1935 – 1395 km of railway

21.  Manila-Dagupan Railway Company then became
Manila Railroad Company
 Water transportation
• Interisland shipping
• 1902 – opened more than a hundred ports to
domestic shipping
• Philippine Legislature passed a law in 1923
providing that only ships owned locally could
engage in interisland shipping

22.  Telephone lines(1905) and radio-telephone (1933)
service were introduced in Manila
 Provincial capitals were linked together by
telephones, telegraph lines and radio
 Mail offices numbered more than a thousand in 1935
that handled ordinary mail, telegrams, money orders
and air mail letters and packages

23.  The improvement and building of roads, railways and
bridges meant importation of American tools,
equipment and materials. Good roads and bridges
meant importation of American trucks and cars. To
make these vehicles run, importation of American oil
and gasoline was imperative. Truck and automobile
spare parts and tires were imported from the US
 PH was one of America’s greatest markets in the
Orient
 American altruism was engrafted with profit motive

24. McKinley’s “Benevolent Assimilation”
Proclamation and his “Instructions” to the
second or Taft Commission laid the bases
of American policy. This policy was rooted
in the recognition of the individual
freedoms, the foundation of any
democratic system. The Filipinos in the
early years of American tutelage were not
allowed to enjoy the full measure of
freedom.

25.  The Sedition Law of 1901
• It is seditious of any Filipino to advocate independence
• Seditious – the crime of saying, writing or doing something
that encourages people to disobey their government
 The Flag Law of 1907 prohibited the display of the
Filipino flag
 Era of Freedom
• Freedom of religious worship
• Freedom of the press
• Freedom to assemble peaceably for the redness of
grievances
• Freedom to change domicile
• Freedom of speech

26.  It is, however, a mistake to suppose that the
Americans taught the Filipinos the meaning of
freedom before the Americans came, for they
enjoyed the blessing under the Revolutionary
Government and the Republic. They had
democracy, and practiced it, when the Americans
arrived. They practiced it in the Tejeros
Convention, in the election of delegates to the
Malolos Congress, and in the framing of the
Malolos Constitution. What Americans did was to
broaden the democratic base, that is to say, they
made the principles of democracy apply to all –
even to the poorest and illiterate common tao.

27. Attack on American individuals
• “Aves de Rapiña” (Birds of Prey) Libel case
 The pages of the nationalistic periodical El
Renacimiento and its Tagalog section, the Muling
Pagsilang were full of vitriolic attacks on the Americans
• In 1908, El Renacimiento vigorously attacked the
then Secretary of the Interior, Dean Worcester,
who immediately sued the owner and editors of
the paper for libel
• Teodoro M. Kalaw, the editor of the paper, was
sentenced to jail, but was pardoned by the
Governor-General F. B. Harrison

28.  Nationalistic plays – reminder of freedom and
Independence
• Aurelio Tolentino’s Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas
 Arrested and jailed for advocating independence in his play
• Juan Matapang Cruz’s Hindi Ako Patay
• Juan Abad’s Tanikalang Ginto
• Severino Reyes’ Walang Sugat
 As the condition of peace and order
improved, the repression of civil liberties was
removed. Individuals were free to talk their
heads off. For the first line in their history, the
Filipinos enjoyed all the basic freedoms in
their relations with one another and with the
American colonial government

29. The Americans gave the Filipinos the first
taste of politics
Issues were outlined, platforms were well
prepared, speeches were delivered, funds
accumulated
From innocent to corrupted
• After the creation of a bicameral legislature in
1916, politics followed the American groove
Deep political consciousness

30.  One of the most lasting American influence is
the development of a Filipino literature in
English and the adoption of American words
and phrases
 English language became the medium of
creative expression
• Juan F. Salazar
• Justo Juliano
• Bernardo P. Garcia
• Maximo M. Kalaw
• Tarcila Malabanan
• Francisco M. Africa

31. Second Generation of writers
• Fernando M. Maramag
• Carlos P. Romulo
• Mauro Mendez
• Cristino Jamias
• Vicente M. Hilario
• Eliseo Quirino
They wrote not only poems and essays,
but also short stories, novels and dramas

32. Adopted English words
• bulakbol (blackball) slacker
• Basket
• Klase (Spanish - clase) class
Up to the present, there are about 600 or
so English words adopted in the national
language
Some translation were fairly accurate and
easily adoptable, yet many were simply
awkward or silly

33. English idioms, when translated from
Tagalog, became funny
• Buhat sa sulok ng mga mata (out of the corner of
one’s eye)
• Sa pagitan ng mga talata (between the lines)
• Sa likod ng pangyayari (in spite of the fact)
• Sa ibabaw ng lahat (above all)
• Kalangitang ipinagbabawal (forbidden glory)
Its influence has the character of
permanence

34.  Filipinos are naturally imitative and can out-
Spanish or out-American a Spaniard or an
American. Thus, many Filipinos take pride in
describing Philippines as the only Christian
country in the Orient and the most
westernized country in the Orient
 American goods and services were at first
considered luxuries. After 45 years of
occupation, they became necessities
 Filipinos became economically dependent on
US
 Neglect and consequent death of Filipino
industry

35. Colonial Mentality
• Stateside – American goods
• American mode of living
Spaniard used violence, on the other hand,
Americans used kindness
Partial loss of Filipino Heritage
• Close family ties
• Love of their own language and culture
• Traditional communal unity – let-well-enough-
alone

36.  Materialism
• Movies have been the purveyor of American
materialism
• Success was being measured in terms of material
possessions
• The people as a rule have lost their sense of values
• American films made a bad influence towards Filipinos
• Poets and thinkers were ridiculed as Filisofos and
Patay-gutom
 Today, since American influence is a
continuing process, the Filipino is as
confused as ever. The tragedy is that this
confusion is mistaken for genius to acquire
material possessions

37. Hollywood movies
• Gangsterism
• Juvenile delinquency
• Promiscuous love affairs
• Betrayal
• Racketeering
• Graft and corruption