IPAGPAPATULOY DAW... ROXAS LEGACY.... BELL TRADE ACT...

[Bong Laurel]

PRESIDENT Manuel Roxas

"Our noble aspirations for nationhood, long cherished and ardously contended for by our people, will be realised."

Born: January 1, 1892
Died: April 15, 1948
Position in History: Philippines: 5th President, Commonwealth: 3rd President, Third Republic: 1st President
Commonwealth Presidential Term: May 28, 1946 - July 4, 1946
Republic Presidential Term: July 4, 1946 - April 15, 1948
Duration of Terms: 37 days (Commonwealth), 651 days (Republic), 688 days (total)

The last president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and the first president of the Third Republic of the Philippines. Manuel A. Roxas was born in Capiz City (now Roxas City) to Gerardo Roxas Sr. and Rosario Acuña. He completed his early education at the public school in Capiz. After studying in Hong Kong, Roxas transferred to Manila High School. He studied law at the University of the Philippines and graduated in 1913.

During his short presidency, Roxas achieved the ratification of the Bell Trade Act, the inclusion of the Parity Amendment in the Constitution and the signing 1947 Military Bases Agreement. The Roxas administration was riddled with graft and corruption which caused much distrust with the people. Further problems arose from the abuse of the police and military which also contributed the already existing problems of the left-wing Huks in the countryside. Roxas attempted to crush the Huks but this only created widespread disaffection amongst the peasants.

WHAT IS BELL TRADE ACT...

The Bell Trade Act was passed by the United States Congress in 1946 to establish the conditions for independence of the Philippines.

This Act gave the Philippines $800 million in war damages in exchange for free trade provisions. These provisions included a waiver of all import duties on goods shipped by America to the Philippines and equal access by Americans to Filipino natural resources. This Act, which both Congress and the Philippines approved, also pegged the Filipino currency (the peso) to the American dollar and prohibited the Philippines from selling products that might "come into substantial competition" with U.S.-made goods. For those reasons Filipino nationalists criticized the law as American interference in their sovereignty.

In 1955, the Laurel-Langley Agreement modified this law on terms more favorable to the Philippines.

The Bell Trade Act of 1946, also known as the Philippine Trade Act was an act passed by the United States Congress specifying the economic conditions governing the independence of the Philippines from the United States.

The United States Congress offered $800 million for post World War II rebuilding funds if the Bell Trade Act was ratified by Philippine legislature, which duly approved the measure on July 2, two days before independence from the United States of America.[1]

According to Filipino nationalists, the Bell Trade Act had provisions that tied the Philippine economy to the United States economy:[1]

* The Philippine currency, the peso, was to be pegged to the US dollar.
* The Bell Trade Act required that the Philippine constitution be revised to grant U.S. citizens and corporations equal access to Philippine minerals, forests and other natural resources.
* The Bell Act stipulated that free trade be continued until 1954; thereafter, tariffs would be increased 5 percent annually until full amounts were reached in 1974.

* This act allowed the U.S. to import whatever products/goods it wanted with no import duties.

The parity clause required an amendment relating to the 1935 Philippine Constitution's thirteenth article, which reserved the use of natural resources for Filipinos. Filipino nationalists denounced the Bell Trade Act. Even the reliably pro-American Philippine President Sergio Osmena called it a "curtailment of Philippine sovereignty, virtual nullification of Philippine independence." Since the Bell Trade Act was unpopular to Filipino nationalists, a revised United States-Philippine Trade Agreement (the Laurel-Langley Agreement) was negotiated to replace Bell Act. This treaty abolished the United States authority to control the exchange rate of the peso, made parity privileges reciprocal, extended the sugar quota, and extended the time period for the reduction of other quotas and for the progressive application of tariffs on Philippine goods exported to the United States.