Doug, the program to enlist Filipinos was an extremely competitive one, the USN really got the best and brightest. Major win-win, I think, in that we got very highly motivated people, self starters, and of course service did provide a shortcut to US citizenship. I had a few guys serving under me who were sworn in as US citizens, and you won’t find prouder new Americans anywhere than a foreigner in the US military who just took the oath. Very focused people, who knew exactly what they were going for and had no compunctions about busting butt to get there.

I think that program self selected atypical people. And of course there were, and are Filipino patriots who really want to serve their nation, but I don’t believe they represent the norm. It’s standard there to pay bribes to the cops, the local military, the civil service, whomever you need to get services from the local government. Sure, we have corrupt judges and cops and politicians in the US, but they aren’t supposed to be and their discovery always provokes outrage and much scuttling for cover.

Well, maybe not always, say in Chicago or parts of NYC, where indicting some influential scumbag brings out the ordinary Joe citizens loudly proclaiming the sterling civic qualities of this stand up guy, who looks out for his neighbors and is always there the help out.

And that’s been the modus operandi in much of the Philippines for a very long time. It will take generations, I think, for it to fade out. Recall that the American colonists were heir to a long tradition of political thought concerning the nature of citizenship. The PI, along with much of the rest of the world, was shortchanged that. Case in point, Russia. They still have figured out how to be free sovereign citizens, or even why they ought to be.