. When independence came, in 1946, Quezon was in his grave. As forecast, Roxas was President, and he had much to ponder.
With the removal of U.S. authority, the Philippines had to for- mulate a government system that would respond not to the wishes of America but to its own needs. Filipinos had evolved a pattern of social relations pre-dating Spanish times that linked peasants and landlords in a mutually beneficial patron-client relationship. Central to it was a concept of mutual obligations known...