KALIBAPI

Organization in the Service of the New Philippines (KALIBAPI) Kapisanan ng Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas (KALIBAPI)
Leader	Directors-General: Benigno Aquino (1942-1943) Camilo Osias (1943-1945)
Secretary-General	Pio Duran
Founder	Philippine Executive Commission
Founded	December 8, 1942 (1942-12-08)
Dissolved	1945 (1945)
Headquarters	Manila, {{ flag/core | alias = Second Philippine Republic | shortname alias = Philippines | flag alias = Philippines Flag Original.svg | size = | name = Second Philippine Republic
Ideology	Fascism, Filipino nationalism
Political position	Far right

The Kapisanan ng Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas (English: Organization in the Service of the New Philippines), or KALIBAPI, was a Filipino political party that served as the sole party of state during the Japanese occupation. It was intended to be a Filipino version of Japan's governning party Taisei Yokusankai.^[1]

Formed by the Philippine Executive Commission (Komisyong Tagapagpaganap ng Pilipinas) under the leadership of Jorge Vargas, the party was created by Proclamation No. 109 of the PEC, a piece of legislation passed on December 8, 1942 banning all existing political parties and creating the new governing alliance.^[2] The Japanese had already dissolved all political parties on the islands, including even the rabidly pro-Japanese Ganap Party, and established KALIBAPI as a mass movement designed to support the occupation whilst taking advantage of nationalism in the region.^[3] Established in December 1942, the party was headed by its Director-General Benigno Aquino with Pio Duran as Secretary-General and effective second in command and Ganap leader Benigno Ramos as a member of the executive.^[4] The three toured the Philippines, setting up local party organisations and promoting the Japanese "new order" at mass meetings.^[5]

For the Japanese KALIBAPI served as a labour recruitment service in its initial stages before taking on an expanded role in mid 1943. It was left to KALIBAPI to write the new constitution and establish the new National Assembly, resulting in Aquino's appointment as Speaker (as his replacement as Director-General by Camilo Osias).^[5] All 54 members of the Assembly were KALIBAPI members, although 33 of them had held elected office before the invasion as well.^[6] Offering a version of fascism, KALIBAPI soon claimed a membership that ran into the hundreds of thousands.^[7] The islands were declared officially independent on 14 October 1943 under the Presidency of José P. Laurel and his KALIBAPI government.^[8] This had been accomplished through the Preparatory Committee for Philippine Independence, which KALIBAPI had established in mid 1943 under Japanese direction.^[9]

Taking a highly nationalistic standpoint, KALIBAPI was active in initiatives to promote the Tagalog language as a central feature of Filipino identity. To this end a pared-down, 1000 word version of the language was promoted to be learned rapidly by those not yet versed in the language.^[10] The general nationalism of Laurel's government strained relations with Japan, particularly as Laurel had refused to declare war on the USA and UK.^[8] As such the Japanese instructed Ramos to form a new group, Makapili, in November 1944 to give more tangible miitary support to the Japanese.^[11]

KALIBAPI disappeared after the Japanese surrender with some of its leaders tried for collaboration. No KALIBAPI candidates ran for office in the 1946 general election.

References

1. ^ Setsuho Ikehata, Lydia N. Yu-Jose, Philippines-Japan Relations, Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2003, p. 196
2. ^ Alphonso J. Aluit, By Sword and Fire: The Destruction of Manila in World War II, 3 February-3 March 1945, Bookmark Inc., 1994
3. ^ William J. Pomeroy, The Philippines: Colonialism, Collaboration, and Resistance, International Publishers Co, 1992, pp. 113-114
4. ^ Pomeroy, The Philippines, p. 117-118
5. ^ ^{a b} Pomeroy, The Philippines, p. 118
6. ^ Pomeroy, The Philippines, p. 119
7. ^ David Bernstein, The Philippine Story, READ BOOKS, 2007, p. 163
8. ^ ^{a b} Ralph Bernard Smith, Chad J. Mitcham, Changing Visions of East Asia, 1943-93: Transformations and Continuities, Taylor & Francis, 2007, p. 22
9. ^ Milton Walter Meyer, Asia: A Concise History, Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, p. 305
10. ^ Robert B. Kaplan, Richard B. Baldauf, Language and Language-in-Education Planning in the Pacific Basin, Springer, 2003, p. 72
11. ^ Ray C. Hunt, Bernard Norling, Behind Japanese Lines: An American Guerrilla in the Philippines, University Press of Kentucky, 2000, p. 142