 Gen. MacArthur personally pinned on Kangleon the Distinguished Service Cross of the United States of America, a decoration awarded for extraordinary heroism in combat witnessed by Philippine President Sergio Osmeña as well as commanders of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, at the Leyte provincial capitol building.Kangleon became Leyte’s civil governor upon the re-establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth under President Osmeña.On May 28, 1946, he was appointed Secretary of National Defense by President Manuel Roxas, the first of the Commonwealth and the Republic of the Philippines, in the same way that Kangleon was the Defense Secretary during the closing American colonial rule and held the position upon the declaration of independence on July 4, 1946.