Excerpts:
"A. The Territorial Period of the Philippine Islands
To provide the proper context for Licudine's arguments, the Court briefly reviews the relationship between the United States and the Philippines during the territorial period, that is, the time from December 10, 1898 through July 4, 1946 during which the Philippines was a territorial possession of the United States. See Lacap v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 138 F.3d 518 (3d Cir.1998) (per curiam). Amicus has thoroughly researched the question and concludes that, "[f]rom the time the United States obtained dominion over the Philippines in 1899 until it granted independence to the islands in 1946, [the United States] Congress classified natives of the Philippines as Philippine citizens, as non-citizen United States nationals, and as aliens, but never as United States citizens." Amicus Curiae's Mem. of Law in Response to Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss ("Amicus Mem.") at 3.
"At the close of the Spanish-American War on December 10, 1898," Rabang v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 35 F.3d 1449, 1450 (9th Cir.1994), cert. denied sub nom. Sanidad v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 515 U.S. 1130, 115, S.Ct. 2554, 132 L.Ed.2d 809 (1995), "[t]he archipelago known as the Philippine Islands was ceded to the United States by Spain effective April 11, 1899," Cabebe v. Acheson, 183 F.2d 795, 798 (9th Cir.1950), through the Treaty of Paris, id. at 802 n. 11. See Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, U.S.-Spain, art. III, Dec. 10, 1898, 30 Stat. 1754 ("Treaty of Paris"). The Treaty of Paris offered Spanish subjects then residing in the Philippine Islands the option of retaining their Spanish nationality, either by leaving the Philippines or by remaining in the Philippines and declaring their allegiance to Spain within a set time period. Cabebe, 183 F.2d at 798. Except for those Spanish subjects who opted to retain their Spanish nationality, the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands as of April 11, 1898 were "held to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which they may reside." Treaty of Paris, art. IX, 30 Stat. at 1759. The Treaty of Paris further provided that "[t]he civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the [Philippines] shall be determined by the Congress [of the United States]." Id. In effect, these inhabitants had become United States nationals, but not United States citizens.[6] See Cabebe, 183 F.2d at 798.
133*133 Until 1902, "the United States maintained military rule over the Philippine Islands." Rabang, 35 F.3d at 1450 (citation omitted). In 1902, Congress enacted the Philippine Government Act, ch. 1369, 32 Stat. 691 (1902), which "established the terms of the United States' civilian rule over the Philippines. Rabang, 35 F.3d at 1450. It also provided that the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands as of April 11, 1899, and their children born subsequently, were deemed "citizens of the Philippine Islands and as such entitled to the protection of the United States." Sec. 4, 32 Stat. at 692. Further, the Philippine Government Act expressly stated that "the Constitution and laws of the United States would not apply to the Philippines." Rabang, 35 F.3d at 1450. (citing Sec. 1, 32 Stat. at 692).
In 1916, Congress enacted the Philippine Autonomy Act, ch. 416, 39 Stat. 545 (1916), declaring "the purpose of the people of the United States as to the future political status of the people of the Philippine Islands, and to provide a more autonomous government for those islands." Rabang, 35 F.3d at 1450-51 (citing Sec. 1, 39 Stat. at 545). Again, Congress deemed the inhabitants of the Philippines "citizens of the Philippine Islands." Id. (citing Sec. 2, 39 Stat. at 546).
The United States did not intend to retain sovereignty over the Philippines, and to this end, Congress enacted the Philippine Independence Act (also known as the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934), ch. 84, 48 Stat. 456 (1934), which set forth "the procedure by which the independence of the Philippines was to be accomplished." Cabebe, 183 F.2d at 799. This Act established the Philippines as a Commonwealth, see id., and provided for "the complete withdrawal of United States sovereignty ten years after the adoption of a Philippine constitution." Rabang, 35 F.3d at 1451 (citing Sec. 1, 48 Stat. at 463). When these conditions precedent had been met:
On the 4th day of July immediately following the expiration of a period of ten years from the date of the inauguration of the new government under the constitution provided for in this Act, the President of the United States shall by proclamation withdraw and surrender all right of possession, supervision, jurisdiction, control, or sovereignty then existing and exercised by the United States in and over the territory and people of the Philippine Islands, including all military and other reservations of the Government of the United States in the Philippines ..., and, on behalf of the United States, shall recognize the independence of the Philippine Islands as a separate and self-governing nation and acknowledge the authority and control over the same of the government instituted by the people thereof, under the constitution then in force.
Sec. 10(a), 48 Stat. at 463 (codified at 22 U.S.C. § 1394(a)). The Philippine Independence Act further provided that "citizens of the Philippine Islands who were not also citizens of the United States were to be considered `aliens' under the immigration laws of the United States." Rabang, 35 F.3d at 1451 (citing Sec. 8(a)(1), 48 Stat. at 462).
On July 4, 1946, Harry S. Truman, the President of the United States, proclaimed that the United States withdrew and surrendered its control and sovereignty over the Philippine Islands, "thus ending their status as a United States territory." Rabang, 35 F.3d at 1451; see Independence of the Philippines Proclamation, Proclamation No. 2695, 60 Stat. 1352, 11 Fed.Reg. 7517 (July 4, 1946)."
