The central goal of the Sakdalistas was simple: they wanted complete and immediate independence from the United States, which they believed would be the most effective means towards the alleviation of crippling taxation.
Benigno Ramos described these sentiments in a December 1930 editorial: "In Manila we see our so-called leaders growing fat and rich on money amassed from taxing the poor.
The party fearlessly exposed the wrongdoings of politicians, was truly compassionate about the poor and oppressed, was uncompromising in its stand on independence, and possessed integrity in terms of living up to its record of not being after the people’s money.
The Sakdalistas believed that, if independence were gained, the government would be able to right all of its past wrongs by giving land back to the landless, looking after the workers' welfare, nationalizing industries, providing youths with truly Filipino educations, setting up a pro-people judiciary, and keeping a close watch on the performance of politicians.
[4] Benigno Ramos (1893–1946) spent his youth and formative years working as a poet, schoolmaster, government clerk, and newspaper editor before he was hired by Manuel Quezon to become a full-time translator for the Senate in 1917.
He spent thirteen years as an influential speechwriter and orator, and in the process he amassed a small but solid following of political admirers by speaking for Quezon at party functions in Manila and Bulacan.
After managing the paper for four years, Ramos made the strategic shift towards actively campaigning for Sakdalistas to get seats in government positions rather than simply pushing critical writings through the newspaper.
[7] In February 1930, an American teacher working in the Philippines, Mabel Brummitt, made racist insults toward several high school students, referring to them as "a bunch of sweet potato eaters" and "monkeys".
Angered by the government's response to the protest, Ramos decided to establish a newspaper that would serve as a pulpit to air his criticisms of the current Filipino regime.
[10] The paper depended upon government-sanctioned mailing privileges, and so thus the writers were sometimes forced to avoid sensitive topics at certain tense moments at the risk of having their voices silenced completely.
In addition to regularly printing criticism of officials, Sakdalistas collected donations for exiled sympathizers, boycotted foreign goods, and gave speeches at the request of various organizations in locations ranging from Pampanga to Zambales to Marinduque.
Near the end of the year, Sakdal subscribers raised several thousand pesos to send Benigno Ramos on a diplomatic trip to the United States in order to protest the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act in front of Congress.
The Filipino Nacionalista Party was in favor of the act, which was eventually approved by the United States Congress in early 1933 after a veto from President Herbert Hoover was overturned.
Considering the fact that the country's general election was set to occur the next year, they decided that the only way forward was to form their own political party and gain official seats in congress.
Additionally, "[i]n Laguna, Bulacan, Rizal, and Cavite, the party's candidates for municipal offices made remarkable showings and won more than a score of important posts.
To counter this political obstacle, Ramos traveled to Japan in November in an attempt to gain foreign support after his failed tour through the United States.
The act was one of the central motivating factors behind the continued frustrations of the Sakdalista party, and it inspired Ramos to embrace the idea of more drastic methods of protestation.
[18] The Sakdalista party had grown quickly over a short period of time, and by early April, their activities in the provinces surrounding Manila were causing concern in government circles.
These measures proved unsuccessful, however, because Ramos had succeeded in printing and smuggling thousands of copies of a Japanese-sponsored pamphlet entitled "Free Filipinos" while on his tour of Japan.