The Living Conditions during the Third Republic.

American culture influenced the Filipinos in many ways. This could be

shown in almost any aspect of the way of living of Filipinos during the third
republic. The recently concluded world war also affected the countrys
development.
Social Conditions
Before and after the war, the measure of wealth among the Filipinos was
land ownership. During the war, some people were able to take advantage of
trading, which was the chief means of livelihood then. These people were able to
gain wealth.
However, a large percentage of Filipinos remained poor. The gap between
the rich and the poor were widened.
The government stared to reconstruct the cites that were damages by war.
This was one of the reasons why many people from the provinces were attached to
go to the cities. Many of those people left their places because their houses and
properties were destroyed. They believed that they would have better chances of
improving their living condition if they would stay in the cities.
However, the government found it difficult to accommodate the growing
number of people who wanted to live in the cities. In time, the already congested
cities became more crowded by people. As a result, the squatter problem surfaced.
The informal settlers were people who did not have permanent shelters. They built
their houses anywhere in other peoples lots, on riverbanks and railroads, under the
bridges, at parks and in sidewalks. They only used light materials in building their
houses.
To address their problem, the government established the National
Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA). One of its functions
was the resettlement of the people who did not have houses. They were resettled,
mostly in Mindanao since it has a vast, uninhabited land area. From 1954 to 1958,

it was estimated that NARRA relocated more than 23,000 families in Cotabato and
about 8500 families in other place in the country.
Education
The Philippine education system during the third period was considered
colonial. The number of schools and universities became the problem of education
department. The quality of education was also a problem. The educational system
needed to be improved in order to answer the needs of students as well as the skills
were not those that were needed by the industries. As a result, a great number of
Filipino professionals were unemployed or they accept jobs which they were not
trained to do.
To answer this problem, community schools were established in 1948 to
improved community work in this system, the community activities became part of
school activities and community schools were established in the rural areas to
improve the social economic and health condition of the people.
The community works included with the construction of seedbed, growing
of seedlings, and teaching of cooking, sewing, weaving, and scientific method of
planting.
Public high schools were also constructed in many barangay to give poor
children a chance to study.

Role of women in the Society

Women played active roles during the Third Republic. Mrs. Aurora Quezon
the wife of President Manuel L. Quezon became the first President of the
Philippine national Red Cross. She helped in the creation of charitable institutions
like the Association de Damas Filipinas, an association made for less fortunate
women and orphans.
The first elected woman senator of the Philippines was Geronimo T. Pecson
she bills for the improvement of the education. She helped pushed through the
Elementary Education law of 1953andthe law on vocational education. Senator
pecson played an important role in the establishment of the Philippine commission

on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

(UNESCO).She spearheaded the establishment of civic and professional
associations, the academy of national language and the National Association for
Advance Studies.
The enrichment of Filipino culture was the interest of Mrs. Francisca ReyesAquino. Most of her time was spent on studying, researching, and teaching native
dances and song. She traveled to different parts of the country to research on
different native songs and dance which she shared to the Filipinos. She founded the
Association of Native dances in the Philippines. This paved the way to deeper and
wider development of Philippine culture. She was awarded as national Artist for
Dance in 1973.