Alternate History of Southeast Asia (1930)

An imaginary alternate history visualized and narrated by Anonymous Kabataan

In the year 1930, there is a change in the political atmosphere when the Qing Dynasty was successfully overthrown by the various Chinese republicans who established their own governments thus no unity among the Chinese people. Two governments were established at the same time in February 1912, the Republic of China led by Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang in southern China and the Beiyang Government which was also a republic but was led by President Yuan Shikai in the northern regions. With the two governments coexisting within China, armed conflict still ensues between the two. With no unity in Chinese politics, the Empire of Japan conducted a surprise invasion of Manchuria on October 12, 1930, grabbing its control from the Beiyang Government. This is the starting point of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Back in the Philippines, after the first independent mission, public funding for such missions was declared illegal. Subsequent 1922, 1923, 1930, 1931, and 1932 independent missions and two 1933 missions were funded by voluntary donations. A number of independent laws were introduced into the US Congress and the Hare-Haws-Cutting Bill was passed on December 30, 1932. US President Herbert Hoover exercised his veto on January 13, 1933. Congress overturned the veto on January 17, and the Hare-Hawes Cutting Act was enacted. The law promised the independence of the Philippines ten years later but secured several militaries and naval bases for the United States and imposed tariffs and quotas on Philippine exports.

The law additionally required the Philippine Senate to ratify the regulation. Quezon entreated the Philippine Senate to reject the bill, which it did. Quezon himself led the 12th independence mission to Washington to secure a better independence act. As a result, the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act was enacted. This was very similar to the Hare-Hawes cutting method, except for the details. The Tydings-McDuffie Act has been ratified by the Philippine Senate. The law provided for the granting of Philippine independence by the year 1944.

The Tydings-McDuffie Act provided for the drafting and guidelines of a 10-year "transitional period" constitution as the Philippine Commonwealth before the independence of the Philippines was granted. On May 5, 1934, the Philippine Legislature passed a law designating the election of convention delegates. Governor Frank Murphy designated July 10 as the election day and the Convention held the opening ceremony on July 30. The completed draft constitution was adopted by the Convention on February 8, 1935, approved by US President Franklin Roosevelt on March 23, and approved by a general vote on May 14. The first election under the new Constitution of 1935 took place on September 17, and the Philippine Commonwealth was formed on November 15, 1935.