be held after the war. Shortly after his capture, Roxas told the Americans that he wanted the United States to keep its military bases in the Philippines after independence in 1946, and promised to use all of his influence to persuade the Filipino congress to accept independence on those terms. Buhite wrote that by pardoning Roxas, MacArthur "...undermined his ability to treat other collaborators more harshly". Beyond his presidential ambitions, MacArthur had additional reasons to treat Roxas leniently. MacArthur had a low opinion of the average Filipino and believed that the men of the hacendado class were only people capable of providing the Philippines with competent leadership. The general felt that whatever Roxas and the other hacendados had done during the Japanese occupation was irrelevant compared to the need to have the haendados continue as the dominant group as MacArthur believed that the Philippines would descend into anarchy without the leadership of the haendados. Osmeña was opposed to MacArthur's rehabilitation of Roxas, only to receive the reply that: "I have known General Roxas for over twenty years, and I know that he is no threat to our military security. Therefore we are not detaining here". MacArthur strongly disliked President Osmeña, whom he felt was an incompetent leader, and much preferred Roxas to be the country's next president. The charismatic Roxas made for more appealing social company, and he proceeded to massage MacArthur's ego through flattery. Moreover, Osmeña had often opposed MacArthur before the war was another point against him as far as MacArthur was concerned, who was quite determined that Roxas should be the first president after independence. President Osmeña traveled to Washington in early 1945 to appeal for President Roosevelt's help against MacArthur, but he made tactless remarks in his meeting at the White House that Roosevelt declared after meeting him that MacArthur should be allowed to rule the Philippines whatever way he liked. MacArthur announced in a speech that Roxas was "one of the prime factors in the guerilla movement" against the Japanese, an image which Roxas himself had embraced. Aside from Roxas, MacArthur pardoned over 5,000 Filipino collaborators, and despite the fact that over 80% of the Filipino Army officers went over to the Japanese in 1942, these men had their commissions restated. When the Congress of the Philippines re-convened in 1945, legislators elected in 1941 Roxas as Senate president. Of all members of the 1st Commonwealth