811B.00/9–1945: Telegram

The Secretary of the Interior ( Ickes ) to President Sergio Osmeña of the Philippines

Both official and press reports indicate that a substantial number of persons who adhered to the enemy and gave him aid and comfort through their service in the puppet governments during invasion are now holding important offices in various branches of the Commonwealth Government including the judiciary. I am informed that you intend to release numerous persons against whom evidence was collected by the United States Army. Your attention is invited to the statement of President Roosevelt on June 29, 1944, that those who have collaborated with the enemy must be removed from authority and influence over the political and economic life of the country. It was intended that this statement would serve as a guide to the policy of the Commonwealth and that the Commonwealth would find the means of effectively investigating, charging and speedily trying the offenders before courts or tribunals composed of judges of unquestioned loyalty. I deem it essential that this task be completed before the holding of the next Commonwealth general election and I would call the attention of your government to the probable reluctance with which funds may be appropriated for relief, rehabilitation and support of the Commonwealth Government if it becomes generally [Page 1234] believed that that Government has failed diligently and firmly to convict and punish those guilty of collaboration.11

Harold L. Ickes
  1. For views of President Truman on collaborationism in the Philippines, see his letter to the Attorney General, released by the White House on October 25, Department of State Bulletin, October 28, 1945, p. 690, and his letter of November 14 to President Osmeña, ibid., November 18, 1945, p. 814.