This article discussed on the problem of nation building in the Philippines at the time of its becoming an independent nation, focusing on the creation of a Philippine national language.
In 1934, a Constitutional Convention was held in Manila and attended by 202 delegates representing every region of the Philippine Islands, in order to draft a charter which would form the foundation of coming nationhood. A common national language had been aspired to even in the early period of American colonial rule. However, there was little consensus among the Philippine people about what would be the national language, thus leaving the 1934 Convention to tackle the matter. The discussion on the national language turned out to be one of the most entangled ones. In this article, the author analyzes the discussion in depth, using the proceedings of the Convention. Her conclusions are as follows.
In the 1930's, there had emerged an educated class in the Philippines, which was linked together through English and Spanish. The delegates came mostly from this educated-bilingual class. They had many characteristics in common, such as school life in Manila and political affiliation.
However, once the language question was taken up, it was very difficult for them to reach a consensus. Intense debates took place between those who favored Tagalog and those who did not. The crucial issue was what kind of language could best express the uniqueness or “national soul” of the Philippine people.
After heated discussions, the suggestion that Tagalog be made the national language was defeated, because the majority of the delegates were convinced that the uniqueness of the Philippine people could never be fully expressed through only one language, and by excluding other native languages. So, finally, another suggestion that a national language be created by way of amalgamation of all Philippine native languages was adopted. This meant that the delegates had understood that the future national language should incorporate the diversity of the cultures pertaining to each region into one “distinctly Filipino” culture. However, on the last day of the convention, the creation of a national language based on only one of the existing native languages was adopted as constitutional provision without sufficient discussion, and the language question remained a source of conflict long after the Independence.

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A distinctive feature of development economics has been the attempt to understand the process of migration from rural areas to urban areas under natural population increase in less developed countries. But it has to be noted at this point that the share of manufacturing in wage employment in the whole industry is generally quite small; it is around 10 percent in Philippine case. This situation arises because the government has introduced import-substitution industries and capital-intensive technology, and advanced countries are influenced by the new protectionist wave.
 On the other hand, the labor force in the traditional sector, such as agriculture or fishing, is quite extensive. Labor out-migration has been slow and the growth rate of the traditional sector correspondingly high in the Philippines, probably as high as that of the manufacturing labor force. The traditional sector accounts for a significant proportion of total employees in rural areas. However the land-frontier in the mainland of the Philippines has reached the point of near exhausion.
 Nevertheless, the fishing-frontier of Palawan province has absorbed migrants from other regions, especially Visayas. This research is based on fieldwork conducted in a fishing village of Palawan province, Southern Tagalog region, from April to May 1991. Males predominate among migrants and young people migrate more readily than older ones. While labor movement does occur from cities to this fishing-frontier, more frequent is a progression in which inter-rural migration rather than rural-urban migration plays a large part in this case. Most of migrants are skilled in fishing or agriculture, but from the early 1980's some employees in the modern sector with no experience of fishing started to migrate.
 Information networks are created and maintained by streams of migration. Migrants from specific regions often cluster in the same village neighborhoods, because it allows them to exchange information about job opportunities and living conditions at the frontier.
 From the viewpoint of labor absorption, the role of public financial assistance for motorizing fishing boats is important for the rural development. It has allowed fishermen to hire more employees and improve the productivity of fishing. However, aquatic resources will be limited for more migrants in the future. It is necessary to assist villagers to start fishery processing industries and feeding fish, in addition to motorizing fishing boats.

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