The Third Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated on July 4, 1946. It marked the culmination of the peaceful campaign for Philippine Independence—the two landmarks of which were the enactment of the Jones Law in 1916 (in which the U.S. Congress pledged independence for the Philippines once Filipinos have proven their capability for self-government) and the Philippine Independence Act of 1934 (popularly known as Tydings-McDuffie) which put in place a ten-year transition period during which the Philippines had Commonwealth status. The Third Republic also marked the recognition by the global community of nations, of the nationhood of the Philippines—a process that began when the Commonwealth of the Philippines joined the Anti-Axis Alliance known as the United Nations on June 14, 1942, receiving recognition as an Allied nation even before independence.
Thus, the inauguration of the Third Republic marked the fulfillment of the long struggle for independence that began with the Philippine Revolution on August 23, 1896 (recent scholarship suggests, on August 24) and which was formalized on June 12, 1898 with the Proclamation of Philippine Independence at Kawit, Cavite.
From 1946 to 1961, Independence Day was celebrated on July 4. On May 12, 1962, President Diosdado Macapagal issued Proclamation No. 28, s. 1962, which declared June 12 as Independence Day. In 1964, Congress passed Republic Act No. 4166, which formally designated June 12 of every year as the date on which we celebrate Philippine independence. July 4 in turn has been observed as Republic Day since then.
The Roxas Administration (May 28, 1946 – April 15, 1948)
President Manuel Roxas, in his first State of the Nation Address, detailed the challenges the country was facing in the aftermath of war: A government “without financial means to support even its basic functions,”[1] scarcity in commodities especially of food, hyperinflation, the “tragic destruction”[2] of a productive economy, and still-ongoing rehabilitation among the different sectors of society.
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