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I University Microfilms, a Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan I the CHINESE in the PHILIPPINES: a STUDY OF 70-26,252 BLAKER, James Ronald, 1939- THE CHINESE IN THE PHILIPPINES: A STUDY OF POWER AND CHANGE. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1970 Political Science, general I University Microfilms, A Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan I THE CHINESE IN THE PHILIPPINES: A STUDY OF POWER AND CHANGE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By James Ronald Blaker, B.A. ****** The Ohio State University 1970 Approved by Adviser/ Department of Polii 1 Science TABLE OF CONTENTS Pq 2 ^ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................... iü VITA. ......................... : ............................... iv LIST OF TABLES........................................... ................................ ... v LIST OF FIGURES . .............................. vî INTRODUCTION. ....................................................................................... 1 Chapter I. THE SPANISH PERIOD................................................................... 31 I I . THE CHINESE DURING THE AMERICAN ERA................................................... 78 New Institutions The Chinese Newspaper Chinese Schools Case I: The Bookkeeping Law I I I . THE JAPANESE INTERREGNUM .............................................. 1^0 The G uerrilla Organizations IV. THE REPUBLIC PERIOD. ................................................................ 188 • The Context of Philippine Sovereignty Arrangement of Power in t ‘ e Chinese Community Case 11 : The Retail Nationalization Act Case I I I : The Barrio School Project V. CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................ 260 APPENDIX A . 288 B................................. 296 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................. 299 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In addition to the numerous Chinese and Filipinos upon whose comments much of this study Is based, any value this paper has fo r academe Is due In large measure to the patience and guidance the author's dissertation committee — Professors Louis Nemzer, R. William LIddle and Robert BedeskI — demon­ strated during Its development. Special appreciation Is due Mel Ling Chou, who aided In translating the Chinese documents used. Miss Patricia Sylvia, who transferred the author's con­ stantly Ille g ib le script Into typed form, and the author's wife, Sandra, who survived the en tire enterprise. 111 VITA April 15, 1939 • . Born - Chicago, Illin o is 1961 ........ B.A. (with distinction). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1961-1964 ................ National Defense Education Act Fellow, Department of P o litical Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1964-1965 ...... Fulbright Fellow, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Republic of the Phi 1ippines 1966-1968 ..... Captain, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, United States Army, Washington, D.C. 1968-1970 ................ Operations Research Analyst, Department of Army, Washington, D.C. PUBLICATIONS "The Chinese Newspaper In the Philippines: Toward the Definition of a Tool," Asian Studies, 111:2, 1965, pp. 243-26]. "Chinese Leadership Alternatives: An Analysis of Leadership impact on Strategic Weapons Development," United States Army Intelligence Threat Analysis Group, Department of Army, Washington, D.C., I 969. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Comparative Government Studies in Theory. Professor James B. Christoph Studies in Soviet History and Politics. Professor Louis Nemzer Studies in Asian History and P o litics. Professor Jerome Grieder . Studies In Chinese. Professor S. Y. Wang IV LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Distribution of Chinese in Southeast Asia ..................... 3 2. Chronology of the Chinese Daily Press in the Phi 1 ip p in e s .............. ... ................................................... 114 3. Statutory Restrictions on Alien A ctivity, 1945-52 . 203 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Size of Chamber Leadership Group, 1900-1942 . I 36 2. Tenures of Ten Leaders of Chamber Appearing Most Often, 1900-1915 ........................................ 138 3. Percentage of,"New" Members in Chamber Leadership, 1900-1942 .................... 141 4. Percentage of Kuomintang Members in Chamber/Federation .................. 21? 5* Comparison of Community Cohesion and Nationalist Influence ................... 273 \ VI INTRODUCTION Nearly all poli.ties have some segment of their populations which, although clearly eni>edded within the economic and social fabric of the state in which they reside and necessarily part of that state's p o litic a l system, are believed to maintain p o litic al loyalty to another state. This phenomenon is often viewed, rig h tly or wrongly, as a problem and sometimes elicits*actions which are unfortunate for both those who are viewed as alien and the polity involved. The detention of United States citizens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War was, for example, of questionable value to the United States; the incarceration of "Zionists" in the Soviet Union during the conclusion of the S ta lin is t period probably did not improve the s ta b ility of the Soviet p o litic a l system; 'the imprisonment and execution of Chinese in Indonesia during the mid-1960's may have created a climate which w ill retard economic progress there at precisely the time when progress, is v ita l. These,.incidents, separated so greatly in terms of time and circumstance, a ll share a sim ilar o ffic ia l rationale. In each the application of state power was justified by the argument that the groups or individuals against which it was applied did or could have maintained p o litic a l loyalty to a foreign en tity , and did or could have worked against the interests of the polity in which they resided. , Although this problem is one with which most nations are fa m ilia r, i t is graphically expressed today in the relationship of the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia to the p o litic a l en tities in which they reside. Currently involved in what they call nation- building, Southeast Asian political elites are vitally and quite verbally concerned with unity. While the techniques involved in the e ffo rt to fashion a common sense of national identity may be chang­ ing — emotional appeals and the reliance on charisma may no ionger be viewed as sufficient bases for unity — it is clear that the quest for unity continues. Because of th is. Southeast Asian p o litic a l elites are generally very sensitive to groups or phenomena which they perceive as barriers to the unity they seek. That this sensi­ tivity is often directed toward the Chinese in the area is indicated both by elite rhetoric and action. The following statement of a Philippine Senator is characteristic of many of the public analysés which are made: "When the time of reckoning comes, the communist elements w ill, for certain, ensure that our 500,000 overseas Chinese w ill a ll side with Communist China and their task of completing our destruction w i11 be simple enough because we have per­ mitted by default their inroads in this country."* The suspicion of the overseas Chinese does not generally stem . from the size of the communities in Southeast Asia. There are perhaps ^Senator Rodolfo T. Ganzon, privileged ' speech before Philippine Senate, March 19, 1965. thirteen m illion overseas Chinese in the region, but excluding Malaysia and Singapore, nowhere do the Chinese approach native pop­ ulations in terms of numerical strength. Estimates of the size o f the various Chinese populations in the region vary greatly, but the following table, combining a number of estimates, is probably a rough approximation of the current distribution:^ table 1 DISTRIBUTION OF CHINESE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA Country Number of Chinese Percent of Total (in thousands) Population Bu rma 450-500 1.7- 2.3 Brunei 25-33 25 .0- 28.5 Cambodia 330-400 7.3- 8.5 1ndones i a 2, 520 - 2,550 2.5 - 3.0 Laos 38-40 2. 0- 3.0 Malaysia West Malaysia 8, 900- 9,000 35 .0- 45.0 Sarawak 740-750 29.0- 33.0 Sabah 450-460 22.0- 25.0 Philippines 400-600 1.5-2.0 Singapore 1,300-1,400 75 . 0- 77.0 Thailand 2, 500 - 3,500 9. 0- 10.0 Vietnam (South) 850-900 6.0-8.0 Vietnam (North) 40-50 .3- 1.0 Victor Purcell, The Chinese In Southeast Asia, (London: Oxford University Press, 1965) p. 3; Virginia Thompson and Richard Adloff, Minority Problems in Southeast Asia, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1955 ) pp. 32, 44, 48, 54, 5&; S. D. Chang, "Distribution and. Occupation of Overseas Chinese," Geographical Review (January 1968) pp. 89- 107; see also, Morton H. Fried (ed.) Colloquium on Overseas Chinese (New York: International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1958) pp. 3-7; Ting K'uang-hua, Chung Kung tsai tung-nan yang (Chinese in Southeast Asia) (Taipei: 1959) PP*. 7-8; G. William Skinner, "Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia." The Annals (January, 1959) p. ’.36. The bases of suspicion and sensitivity actually stem from three interrelated factors: the strategic economic position of the Chinese; th eir cohesiveness; and, th eir cultural and p o litic al identification with China. The Strategic Economic Position of the Overseas Chinese In 1955, Thompson and Adloff pointed to the economic impor­ tance of the Chinese in Southeast Asia as follows: "The economic grip of the Chinese upon Southeast Asia's economy is probably the basic cause of the indigenous peoples' resentment and fear of the Chinese minority ... Chinese are found throughout the entire economic gamut. Their importance in the differen
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