state of the nation address of manuel quezon delivered in 1935

7/28/2019 State of the Nation Address of Manuel Quezon delivered in 1935

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Messageof

His Excellency Manuel L. QuezonPresident of the Philippines

To the First National Assembly on National Defense

[Delivered in the Assembly Hall, Legislative Building, November 25, 1935]

Mr. Speaker, gentlemen of the National Assembly:

As I appear before you for the first time, allow me to extend to you my cordial greetings andcongratulations upon your election to this august body. It is your unique privilege to serve our country atthe most critical period of its existence—at a time when the course of its destiny will be charted.

The framers of our Constitution conferred upon our Government all the power and authority needed tomeet the demands of a progressive and enlightened epoch so that it may be able to promote the welfareand happiness of our people and safeguard their liberty.

I know you are well aware of the share of responsibility in the task of government which belongs to you.Unlike the Legislature that preceded you, which had two Houses, this National Assembly is by itself thewhole Legislative Department of the government. When you take final action on a measure, there is noother legislative branch that will pass upon and give it further consideration. The measure as you pass itgoes directly to the Chief Executive, who is devoid of any power to alter it in any way and has noalternative except that of giving it his express or implied approval, or of vetoing it.

In my opinion, the main responsibility for legislative action is yours. It will be my policy as Chief Executiveto give you, in every case, the benefit of doubt. You may, therefore, rest assured that, if ever, I shallexercise my veto power with reluctance, and only when I am strongly convinced that it is my plain andunavoidable duty to do so in the interest of the common weal.

Article VII, section 11, (5) of the Constitution directs the President to present to the National Assembly,

from time to time, information on the state of the Nation, and to recommend to its consideration suchmeasures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

In the fulfillment of this duty, I am addressing the National Assembly today on the fundamentalresponsibility of a state—on a question involving our very existence when we become a free member ofthe family of nations. This question is that of assuring the future safety of our beloved country.

Self-defense is the supreme right of mankind, no more sacred to the individual than to the nation, theinterests of which are immeasurably of greater significance and extent. A threat against the nationinvolves not alone the life of one individual, but of millions; not the welfare and fortune of a single family,but of all. And above everything else, depending upon the exercise of the right of national self-defense isfreedom itself, the most precious reward from Heaven to the worthy. This immutable principle is firmlyincorporated in our Constitution—the Magna Charta of Philippine Liberty.

We, the citizens of these Islands, are now fairly started upon the final stretch of the long road we have sopatiently and persistently followed toward the goal of independence. Up to here the trail has been atortuous one. But the difficulties we have encountered and the frustrations we have endured have notdeterred us from our purpose. They have served only to spur us onward—to increase the intensity of ourundying devotion to the cause for which no cost could be too great, no sacrifice too bitter. And now atlast, with success so plainly in our sight, our love of liberty and the voice of reason alike urge us to guardand cherish the prize that has been so hardly won.



I would be recreant to my duty did I not come to you, in my first appearance before the NationalAssembly, to ask your ungrudging support for the establishment of a sound system of National Defense.This is our first and most urgent need.

As we commit ourselves to this important task we realize that a war-weary world groans under a burdenof armaments. Every accretion to the accumulated total is invariably subjected to careful and even

suspicious scrutiny. But the world must be well aware that in the present state of our development, theestablishment within these Islands of an aggressive force capable of threatening the security of any othernation would be fantastic. Consequently, without fear that any act of ours may be misunderstood orresented by others, we are free to undertake every preparatory measure of defense that thecircumstances of our situation may require.

Nevertheless, it is well that we now announce, through clear delineation of our objective, definite limitsupon the efforts we shall make in this direction. That objective is a single one—peace—permanent peace!This objective is proclaimed in our own Constitution and no Filipino dares to challenge it. No purpose ofour own, no conceivable temptation or manipulation from abroad, can ever lead us into war save indefense of our own rights, waged within the limits of our own territory. Our full desire is to insure domestictranquillity and to guarantee to our citizens the opportunity to pursue, without external molestation,prosperity and happiness under a stable government, devised, developed, and maintained by the people

themselves.

In furtherance of this purpose I shall submit to you a comprehensive plan for national defense. In myopinion the plan reflects the lessons of history, the conclusions of acknowledged masters of warfare andof statesmanship, and the sentiments and aspirations of the Filipino people. It is founded upon enduringprinciples that are fundamental to any plan applicable to our needs.

The first of these principles is that every citizen is obligated to the nation’s defense. All the individual andnational resources may be used by the State in the interest of self-preservation. No man has theinalienable right to enjoy the privileges and opportunities conferred upon him by free institutions unless hesimultaneously acknowledges his duty to defend with his life and with his property the Governmentthrough which he acquires these opportunities and these privileges. To deny this individual responsibilityis to reject the whole theory of democratic government.

This principle knows no limitation of time or condition. It is effective in war, in peace, and for as long asthe nation shall endure. Impelled by cogent reasons I propose its specific application to our peace-timetask of preparation, by requiring every citizen of suitable age and physique to undergo military training asan obligation to the State.

The ultimate bulwark of liberty is the readiness of free citizens to sacrifice themselves in defense of thatboon. Where this spirit has been inculcated through generations and has become firmly embedded in thepublic consciousness, nations have been strong, virile, prosperous, and stable. Where citizens havegrown neglectful of this individual obligation, especially where they have sought to deny its validity, theresult has been decadence, weakness, poverty, and destruction.

To foster national pride and patriotism nothing is more effective than to participate actively in theprocesses of maintaining the national defense. Military training and service build up the spirit of duty andlove of country. They nurture patriotism, loyalty, courage, and discipline. A nation of trained men ready todefend their country has the lasting respect of itself and of the world. A nation of helpless citizens canexpect nothing but slavery at home, and contempt abroad. If we are wise, if we are mindful of the lessonshistory teaches, we will provide a military education for our entire manhood, beginning from earlyadolescence. To accomplish this purpose a utilization of the public-school system immediately suggestsitself. By inculcating in rising generations the soldierly virtues, by preparing our people spiritually andphysically to serve the state, our schools will be building upon solid foundations not only national



consciousness and solidarity but also boldness of spirit which are indispensable to the free anduninterrupted development of this nation.

The second basic principle is that our national defense system must provide actual security. Indeed, aninsufficient defense is almost a contradiction in terms. A dam that crumbles under the rising flood isnothing more than a desolate monument to the wasted effort and lack of vision of its builders. In this one

function of government there can be no compromise with minimum requirements. Our program of nationaldefense must serve notice upon the world that the citizens of these Islands are not to be subjugated; thatconquest of this nation cannot be accomplished short of its utter destruction, and that that destructionwould involve such staggering cost to an aggressor, both in blood and gold, that even the boldest and thestrongest will unerringly mark the folly of such an undertaking.

The next principle to which I hold is the insistent need for current and future economy. Although there areno costs of peace comparable to those that would surely follow defeat in war, it is nevertheless incumbentupon the Government to avoid every unnecessary expenditure. During the three centuries of Philippinehistory as a dependency, there have been largely lifted from our shoulders the burdens incident tosovereignty, particularly those of providing for our own protection. These burdens our people now gladlyaccept. They stand ready to pay the cost, whatever it may be, of assuring the permanent security andintegrity of the homeland. But for us in the Government, to permit this cost to exceed the minimum

demanded by the purpose that we seek would be an inexcusable blunder and a betrayal of the trustreposed in us.

The need for minimizing expense not only requires the utmost efficiency in details, but also it clearlyindicates the basic character of the defensive establishment we must devise. Specifically, it precludes, forthe present at least, the development of a battle fleet. Naval strength is expressed principally in terms offighting ships, each of which, even in the small and auxiliary categories, can be produced only attremendous cost. It is manifestly impossible, in the current state of our economic development, to acquirea fleet that could offer even partially effective resistance to any existing navy worthy of the name.

One desirable effect of a decision to forego the construction of a battle fleet will be to emphasize thepassively defensive character of our military establishment. Tactically, a fleet cannot operate as a purelydefensive force and is useless unless it can proceed to see and engage its enemy beyond the limits of its

own bases. Moreover, the existence of a powerful navy inherently implies a possibility of aggressiveintent, since only with strong naval support could an army hope to invade the territory of an overseasenemy. Consequently, as an island nation, our lack of sea power will confirm before the world our earnestintent to develop an army solely for defensive purposes.

Another fundamental premise is the necessity for a gradual rather than sudden growth of the requireddefense establishment. Both economy and efficiency demand no immediate and complete organization ofa force of the necessary eventual strength. A modern army is a complex organism, and its defensivepower is not measured solely by the number of its soldiers. Suitable armament, proper organization,professional technique and skill, applicable tactical doctrine and, above all, trained leadership are the verysoul of an army’s combat efficiency. However lavish may be the expenditure, these things cannot beinstantly acquired. They are brought about only through thoughtful, painstaking, and persistent effort,intelligently directed. Progress in these fields will determine the rate at which the whole development,

including increases in personnel strength, may logically and efficiently proceed.

Nevertheless, it is imperative that our plans reach fruition by the time the beneficent protection of theUnited States shall have been finally withdrawn. We have ten years, and only ten, in which to initiate andcomplete the development of our defensive structure, the creation of which, because of the conditions ofour past existence, must now begin at the very foundations. Not a moment is to be lost. Startingimmediately, we must build economically and gradually, but steadily and surely, so as to attain within thetime permitted us the highest possible efficiency at the lowest possible cost.



Finally, I must emphasize the need for logical governmental procedure in this development—a procedurecalculated to minimize error and to avoid loss of time, waste of resources, and unnecessary exposure ofthe country to the risks of unpreparedness. Since our security arrangements must be carefully moulded tofit the special and particular needs of our country, there exists nowhere in the world a model upon whichour own defenses may be blindly patterned. Step by step we must design a new organism, and in doingso we must advance progressively from the general to the specific; from the explored to the unexplored.A continuous adjustment of essential details to constantly evolving requirements will be mandatory. Sucha procedure will be possible only through the exercise of administrative authority, taking advantage of thehighest professional and technical advice. But since under our form of government, administrativeauthority is limited to the task of execution, it is highly important that initial legislation for the erection ofthe nation’s defenses should confer upon the President as Commander -in-Chief, a very considerablelatitude in carrying out the expressed purposes of the National Assembly. Any attempt, at the outset ofthis undertaking, to formulate a plan that would prescribe in concrete and inflexible language every detailof the complete development could not fail to result in added cost and slow progress.

The essential elements of our defensive system will in time become more clearly crystallized anddefinitely moulded to the needs of the nation. Then, it will be time for the National Assembly to enactlegislation with such details as it may deem desirable.

But though details of design in the superstructure of defense should, at least for the present, be chargedto the Chief Executive, the Assembly must retain the responsibility of assuring the soundness of itsfoundations. It is not only the prerogative but also the duty of the Legislative Department to evolve and toprescribe the broad policies that are to control progress in this critically important task. Likewise it is afunction of the Legislative Body to bestow specific authorization and to provide the funds essential to thepurpose it seeks. Supported by such authority and guided by these policies, the Chief Executive will beenabled to proceed confidently and expeditiously toward the accomplishment of the legislative intent.

The central feature of the defensive system I propose is a trained and organized force, normally engagedin the pursuits of peace, and ready for effective employment whenever the interests of the nation sodemand. Service in this force is to be rendered as a patriotic obligation to the state. Upon reachingmaturity, each able-bodied male citizen will automatically become liable for a period of intensive militarytraining. From the number annually attaining this age, a training quota of the required size will be selected

by lot. Moreover, so far as the capacity of the Army will permit, volunteers from among those not soselected, or from older age groups, will be incorporated into the training cadres. Upon completion of histraining period, each citizen will return to civil life, but as a member of an Army reserve unit. Thus theburden of defense will be widely distributed, and each citizen will devote to exclusive military activity onlyan insignificant portion of his time.

The regular element of the Army, composed of volunteers from every geographical area of the Islands,will eventually attain a maximum strength of 1,500 officers and 19,000 enlisted men, including the existingConstabulary. Its officers and men will pursue the military profession as a life’s career and devotethemselves exclusively to the nation’s defense. The Regular Army must become a model of efficiency—the energizing element and, professionally, the directing head of the whole establishment. Its missionswill comprehend the maintenance of permanent overhead for the entire force, including such essentialservices as procurement, storage, transportation, communication, and sanitation; the prosecution of

research and experimentation to keep the Army abreast of latest developments in every branch of themilitary profession; and instruction of the reserve.

In organizational and operational outline the proposed system is the essence of simplicity. Under itsprovisions the Chief of Staff of the Army is selected by and is directly responsible to the President, andwill have the rank of a Secretary of Department. Under him will be a Department of National Defensecomprising the several staff sections required for general supervision of the whole military establishmentand for the control of administration, training, maintenance, and other essential functions.



The reserve units will be dispersed through all the Islands, approximately according to population. Thenational territory will be divided into military districts and subdistricts, in each of which will be maintained asmall professional cadre for the training of the annual quota locally called to the colors. Training periodsexcept for trainees selected to serve with the Regular Force will normally extend over a period of five anda half months. Thereafter, for ten years, each trainee will be required to undergo annually sufficienttraining to preserve individual and collective efficiency. From that time onward his training will growprogressively less.

Under this system we will have, within ten years, hundreds of thousands of trained individuals, andeventually practically the entire male population will have had military training. The younger men of thisgroup will be constantly organized into tactical formations. Supporting these units will be a pool of trainedindividuals, generally in higher age groups, but available in emergency for replacements in lineorganizations or for employment in staff services. Equipment and supplies for reserve organizations willbe locally stored and maintained, under the control of professionally trained cadres.

Supplementing the training given in the Army will be the military instructional system in schools andcolleges. Every educational institution wholly or partially supported at public expense is to serve, underthe plan, as an agency for inculcating patriotism and for assisting in the important work of instructing ourpeople in the essentials of the military profession. Starting with students, aged ten, intensive courses in

citizenship, sanitation, and physical development will be progressively widened in scope during the periodof adolescence, until at the age of eighteen, every able-bodied male student will have pursued a thoroughcourse in elementary military practices and methods. As a consequence, even though quotas annuallytrained in the Army will comprise only a portion of the young men attaining the age of twenty-one, we willeventually acquaint our entire male population with the essential requirements of military service.

The plan provides a comprehensive system for the emergency mobilization of the reserves so as toinsure rapid, concerted, and efficient action in the face of emergency. It proposes yearly objectives in theprocurement of armaments and equipment. All these things and many others, I have developed in asexhaustive detail as is now possible, to the end that my proposals to the National Assembly mightcomprise concrete rather than theoretical recommendations.

Although, in broad outline, the proposed system of defense may be thus briefly and accurately described,

the governmental problems involved in transforming plans into actual accomplishment will be almostbaffling in their intricacy and difficulty. Preliminary to undertaking actual development, necessary lawsmust be formulated and approved, and initial selections of higher military officials accomplished.Thereafter, and in full accord with the provisions of these legislative enactments, the professional andtechnical phases of the task will begin. Merely to name the more important of them is to indicate clearlythe involved character of the project.

Organization of the Department of National Defense must aim at efficient functioning, but must avoidextravagance entailed by the maintenance of unnecessary overhead. Its membership must possess thequalifications required by the purpose of each essential bureau, including those, for example, pertainingto armament, administration, supply, sanitation, and legal affairs.

An efficient officer corps is the very soul of an army. To produce one of the requisite size andqualifications we must first provide for its gradual accumulation, so that future turn-over will involve only asmall annual increment. We must evolve policies governing appointments, promotion, pay, assignment,and retirements, and must provide for the thorough military education of its members. Technical schoolsmust be established, and for these the faculties must first be organized and thoroughly indoctrinated.

Suitable tactical organization of the Army, accurately adjusted to the necessities of Philippine conditions,must be developed. Applicable doctrine and method must be evolved. A skeletonized organization forregistration of citizens subject to military training, and for receiving, caring for and training annual quotasmust be established. Necessary programs pertaining to munitions, including such technical items as



airplanes, rifles, cannon, machine guns, ammunition, signal equipment, bridging material, and a host ofother matters must be formulated in accordance with our minimum needs. Inspection, accounting, andother phases of administration must be established and maintained. All these constitute immediateproblems for which solutions must develop side by side, each fully articulated and synchronized with allothers.

This necessary control, direction, and coordination of a myriad of essential details represents one of themost difficult and critical problems of the entire project. In its importance to progress, it will, for someyears to come, overshadow all others. For its successful solution there is immediately demanded, not onlya technical ability that extends to every phase of the military profession, but also a broad and thoroughexperience in the field of higher administration, organization, and leadership. Unless these qualificationscan be made constantly available to the Commonwealth we will pay for their lack in millions ofsquandered pesos, years of wasted time, and in confusion of effort and added risks to our nation’ssecurity.

Unfortunately it is this type of ability and experience that, as yet, there has been little opportunity todevelop among our own people. We have produced, both in the Constabulary and in the PhilippineScouts, officers of outstanding worth in particular lines of military endeavor, from among whom weconfidently expect to obtain initially the senior officers of the new Army. But due to the conditions of our

past existence we have had no War Department, no complete defense force, no balanced army, noexclusive responsibility for protection, and, consequently, no experience in the functions that now assumefor us a transcendent importance.

In this situation we have no alternative but to obtain this experience, this ability, and this skill from othersources, and in my anxiety on this score I earnestly considered all upon which we might logically depend.

Every consideration of friendship and association supported the hope that this source might be the UnitedStates. Consequently, I presented to the President of that country the essentials of this problem andexplained our dire need for help. More specifically I earnestly requested the detail of General DouglasMacArthur, then Chief of Staff of the United States Army, as the one soldier whose opinion on everyquestion of military organization would command the respect of all our people. The President’s responsewas immediate, sympathetic, and definite.

At a very real sacrifice to the American Army this officer, who since 1930 had served continuously as itsChief of Staff, has been made available to the Commonwealth Government as Military Adviser. His recordin peace and war requires no eulogy from me. His qualifications for the important post in which he willserve are as clearly appreciated among our own people as they are in Washington. Because of this, andbecause also of his own known devotion to the Philippines and to the Filipino people, the wisdom of hischoice will be universally recognized. I request authority to confer upon General MacArthur and hisassistants the rank and emoluments that I deem in keeping with their important duties and the dignity ofthis nation.

The several provisions of law fundamental to the development of Philippine defense are outlined in a draftof a bill which I shall presently furnish you. It depicts, in much greater detail than I have attempted here,the defense plan I propose for adoption. It represents the essence of the authorizations, directives, andgeneral policies necessary to insure initiation of the project.

Again, I emphasize the need for prompt and positive action in initiating this great project. In every otherline of human endeavor we have built, not only the foundations, but also the framework and, in certaincases, even the edifice itself. But here, except for necessary law enforcement elements, not a stone hasbeen laid.



The refusal to grant us immediate and complete independence has been due, in large measure, to ourpresent inability to cope with a general revolt or to offer any kind of resistance to an invading force. Yourswift action on the defense measures I am proposing will prove the earnestness of our determination tobe, and forever to remain, free and independent. What, I ask, would be the use of seeing our country freeone day, with its own flag standing alone and flying against the sky, only to see ourselves the subjects ofanother power the following day, with its flag the sovereign in and of our country? What would be thepurpose of educating our young men and women concerning their rights and privileges as free citizens, iftomorrow they are to be subjects of a foreign foe? Why build up the wealth of the Nation only to swell upthe coffers of another? If that be our preordained fate, why seek a new master when the Stars and Stripeshas given us not only justice and fair treatment, welfare and prosperity, but also ever increasing politicalliberties including independence?

National freedom now stands before us as a shining light—the freedom that for many years gleamed onlyfitful candle in the distant dark. We shall make ourselves ready to grasp the torch, so that no predatoryforce may ever strike it from our hands!

(Source: www.gov.ph)

state of the nation address of manuel quezon delivered in 1935

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