| abstract | - The Commonwealth of the Philippines administered the Philippines from 1935 until 1946, aside from a period of exile in 1942 to 1945 when Japan occupied the country. It replaced the Insular Government, a U.S. territorial government, and was established by the Tydings–McDuffie Act. The Commonwealth was designed as a transitional administration, and it prepared the country for independence. During its more than a decade of existence, the Commonwealth had a strong executive and a Supreme Court. Its legislature, dominated by the Nacionalista Party, was at first unicameral, but later bicameral. In 1937, the government selected Tagalog–the language of Manila and its surrounding provinces–as the basis of the national language, although it would be many years before its usage became general. Women's suffrage was adopted and the economy recovered to its pre-Depression level before the Japanese Occupation in 1942. The Commonwealth government went into exile from 1942 to 1945, when the Philippines was under Japanese occupation. In 1946, the Commonwealth ended and the Philippines became an independent Republic as provided for in Article XVIII of the 1935 Constitution.
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