The correct answer to this open question is the following.
What the Philippines needed to do before assuming independence was "to show they were capable to govern themselves."
We are talking about the speech President Harry S. Truman delivered regarding the conflicts in the Philippines because Phlipinnes demanded independence from the United States.
President Truman said that "It has been the repetive declaration of the legislative and executive branches of the government of the U.S. that full independence could be granted to the Philippines, as soon as their people are prepared to assume this obligation."
The Philippines gained independence from the United States on July 4, 1946.
