Herbert Adams Gibbons
In the early 1930s, Gibbons argued that an American withdrawal from the Philippines would be futile, because Japan would immediately colonize the country if the United States were to pull out. In 1931, in a speech in Manila, Gibbons referred to the Philippine calls for independence as "claptrap." He said that if the United States were to withdraw, then it might as well negotiate with the League of Nations to hand the Philippines over to Japan as a mandate. The American business community roundly praised Gibbons' speech. However, Philippine nationalist leaders attacked Gibbons, saying that he was raising the "Japanese bogy" as a hurdle to Philippine independence. (Ultimately, the United States did not grant Philippine independence until 1946, after Japan was no longer a military threat to the former colony.)
Philippines–Poland relations
With Philippine independence from the United States in 1946 and the eventual establishment of the communist People's Republic of Poland in 1952, relations between the two countries were severed owing to political differences. However, following Soviet–American détente, relations between the two countries were normalized with the formal establishment of diplomatic relations on September 22, 1973, which culminated with the visit of former President Diosdado Macapagal to Poland in 1974, the first visit to the country by any member of the Philippine government.