Three years of enemy occupation : the issue of political collaboration in the Philippines / by Claro M. Recto
Title
Three years of enemy occupation : the issue of political collaboration in the Philippines / by Claro M. Recto
Subject
Philippines--History--Japanese occupation, 1942-1945.
Description
First detailed account and rationalization of the actions of key political collaborators during the Japanese occupation.
Recto was a former associate justice of the Philippine Supreme Court and was president of the 1934-1935 Philippine Constitutional Convention. During the war, he was member of the Philippine Executive Commission, Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence and Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Laurel government. He presents the case for the political collaborators as if in a lawyer’s brief, citing MacArthur’s alleged last instructions in December 1941, the total control by the Japanese military in the first year of Japanese rule, which the “collaborators” tried to soften, and the attempts of the Laurel government to make independence real.
Presents information available to the general public (proclamations and other documents published in the Tribune, and others), without revealing private documents. Also cites parallels in Philippine history (Filipino collaborators with the Americans in 1901) and in the world (Greece’s issue of collaboration with the Germans) Plays down his own actions and role during the occupation (even the biographical outline at the end of the book omits any mention of his positions during the occupation). It must be remembered that when this book was published, the People’s Court trials were just beginning, and Laurel and others were still in prison or released on bail.
Adds several documentary appendices to support his arguments, among them Wainwright’s surrender proclamation, MacArthur’s, Osmeña’s and Truman’s statements on collaboration, Recto’s 1944 letter to Japanese ambassador Shozo Murata, complaining of Japanese abuses, and Recto’s pre-war writings (warning of the threat of Japan).
Recto was a former associate justice of the Philippine Supreme Court and was president of the 1934-1935 Philippine Constitutional Convention. During the war, he was member of the Philippine Executive Commission, Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence and Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Laurel government. He presents the case for the political collaborators as if in a lawyer’s brief, citing MacArthur’s alleged last instructions in December 1941, the total control by the Japanese military in the first year of Japanese rule, which the “collaborators” tried to soften, and the attempts of the Laurel government to make independence real.
Presents information available to the general public (proclamations and other documents published in the Tribune, and others), without revealing private documents. Also cites parallels in Philippine history (Filipino collaborators with the Americans in 1901) and in the world (Greece’s issue of collaboration with the Germans) Plays down his own actions and role during the occupation (even the biographical outline at the end of the book omits any mention of his positions during the occupation). It must be remembered that when this book was published, the People’s Court trials were just beginning, and Laurel and others were still in prison or released on bail.
Adds several documentary appendices to support his arguments, among them Wainwright’s surrender proclamation, MacArthur’s, Osmeña’s and Truman’s statements on collaboration, Recto’s 1944 letter to Japanese ambassador Shozo Murata, complaining of Japanese abuses, and Recto’s pre-war writings (warning of the threat of Japan).
Creator
Recto, Claro Mayo, 1890-1960.
Publisher
Manila, People's Publishers, 1946.
Date
1946
Format
22 x 14 cm.
Type
Softbound
Identifier
9711707063
Call Number
DS 686.4 R4
Accession Number
14007
Pagination
xxiv, 189 p.
Files
Collection
Citation
Recto, Claro Mayo, 1890-1960., “Three years of enemy occupation : the issue of political collaboration in the Philippines / by Claro M. Recto,” FHL-Roderick Hall, accessed March 10, 2026, https://fhl.omeka.net/items/show/444.