The speech was met with eye-rolling among many of the troops under his command, who saw it as another instance of MacArthuresque grandstanding. Hadn’t they all returned? But there was no arguing with the electrifying effect on the Filipino people. Even if they did not hear the speech on the radio, most soon learned of it from leaflets or word of mouth. The following day, on the steps of the State Capitol in Tacloban, MacArthur would preside over a more formal ceremony with President Osmeña—a symbolic transfer of sovereignty back to the Philippines. He had not cleared this declaration with the
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