Memorandum from Secretary of the Treasury Fred Vinson to President Harry S. Truman

THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY WASHINGTON August 30, 1945 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT Progress Report on Treasury Activities in the Philippines Because of your interest in the Philippines, I am submit- ting this report to you on Treasury activities relating to that country. The three year occupation of the Philippine Islands by Japan created near chaos in the Philippine financial, monetary and banking systems as well as in other sectors of the econo- my. In addition, it created grave problems such as collabora- tionism and the need to guard against the revival of Japanese influence. With a view to carrying out its responsibilities in the Philippines and thus aiding in the solution of these prob- lems, the Treasury has established an office in Manila which acts in coordination with the military authorities under General MacArthur and in close consultation with the Commonwealth Govern- ment. Foreign Funds Control AND In Manila Under supervision from Washington the Philippine office of the Treasury is dealing with the following problems: (a) Restoration of normal business activities. The pri- mary aim of our Foreign Funds Control program in the Philippines has been to expedite the restoration of the business life of the Islands and the reopening of banking institutions. To accomplish this, our controls in the Philippines operate with a minimum of red tape and under strict instructions to license speedily all legitimate transactions within the Islands and with the United States. (b) Preventing the revival of Japanese influence. The Treasury has recognized the danger that as the Japan- ese retreated from the Philippines they would leave behind hidden centers of economic and financial in- FORVICTORY fluence to be the basis for post-war revival of BUY UNITED STATES WAR BONDS AND STAMPS