Commonwealth Act #671
Government in exile of the Commonwealth of the Philippines - Wikipedia
The Emergency Powers Act
On December 16, 1941, President Quezon approved Commonwealth Act No. 671, which had been passed by the Philippine Legislature.
This act declared a state of total emergency and invested the President with extraordinary powers in order to meet the emergency.
Generally, the act authorized the President, during the existence of the emergency, to promulgate such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to carry out the national policy.
These powers included authority to transfer the seat of the Government or component parts of the government.[8]
The Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in exile (Spanish: Gobierno de la Commonwealth de Filipinas en el exilio, Tagalog: Pámahalaáng Kómonwélt ng Pilipinas sa pagpapatapón) was a continuation of the government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines after they had been evacuated from the country during World War II.
The Commonwealth of the Philippines was self-governing, although under the ultimate control of the United States.
During the conquest of the Philippines by the Empire of Japan, the government evacuated to Australia following the prior evacuation of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur in March 1942.
From Australia they traveled to the United States, where they by May had established themselves in Washington, D.C., on 13 May 1942.[1]
While in Washington, the government, led by President Manuel L. Quezon, worked to maintain American interest in the Philippines, and issued shortwave broadcasts to the Philippines.
Their legitimacy was supported by the U.S. government led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Quezon joined the inter-governmental Pacific War Council.
While in exile, Quezon signed the Declaration by United Nations.
While the government had been granted emergency powers by the Philippine Legislature shortly after the invasion, the term of President Quezon was constitutionally limited to end in November 1943.
Shortly before this date, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution extending the term until "constitutional processes and normal functions of government shall have been restored to the Philippine Islands."
Quezon died in August 1944, and Vice President Sergio Osmeña was sworn in at Washington, D.C.
The government returned to the Philippines later that year as part of the American reconquest of the islands.
President Quezon suffered from tuberculosis and spent his last years in hospitals[22] or tuberculosis resorts.
For a month early in 1944, he stayed at Anne Hathaway Cottage on the grounds of Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, which was home to the government in exile at the time.[23]
He died on August 1, 1944, in Saranac Lake, New York.[22]
Vice President Osmeña became president of the Commonwealth upon Quezon's death.
He was sworn in by Associate Justice Robert Jackson in Washington, D.C.[24]
He returned to the Philippines the same year with U.S. military liberation forces.[25]