American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Chapter 178: There are many despicable people in Manila

　After a short and intense tropical rainstorm, the humid air seemed particularly fresh.

　In the suite of the Manila Hotel, Fili, who had just had a fierce battle with Marita in bed, was wrapped only in a bath towel. He walked to the window, looked at the scenery outside, took a deep breath of the humid sea breeze, and immediately felt refreshed.

　"Ah, it's finally cooling down! The weather in Manila is really scorching hot!"

　To be honest, in Fili's opinion, he should be considered a relatively heat-resistant type among white people.

　After all, his hometown of Los Angeles was already hot enough due to its proximity to the Mojave Desert. And after moving to the San Fernando Valley, the weather there was even hotter than downtown Los Angeles due to its basin-like environment surrounded by mountains and lack of sea breeze.

　However, compared with Manila in the Philippines, the summer heat in Los Angeles is really not worth mentioning!

　Generally speaking, the weather in Manila is pleasant in the early morning. The refreshing breeze knocks on the windows and flows into the room, making people feel refreshed.

　However, the good times don't last long. Just as the moist morning breeze washes away your sleepiness and you begin to perk up, the scorching heat quickly follows through the window. Even leaning against the window, facing the sea, there's no cool breeze, let alone a distant view. The gleam of the waves in the bay resembles a blazing coal fire to the naked eye, the walls of the houses reflect a blinding white light, and the sky, like a sea of ​​fire, blinds you.

　Generally speaking, before noon, if you walk out of the house and into the street, you will feel like you are warming yourself by a fire. Even if you stay in a relatively cool house, it will feel like you are in a steamer, making it hard to breathe and extremely sleepy. Sleepiness will come back and force you into a cage made of gauze curtains and straw mats.

　In this humid, hot and chest-suffocating environment, Fili couldn't muster much interest even though there was a naked beauty lying next to him.

　The earliest that can happen is dusk, when the cool evening breeze will start to blow, freeing people from the torture of stuffiness and drowsiness and making them feel a little more comfortable.

　Perhaps it is precisely because the daytime heat is so unbearable and uninspiring that Manila's nightlife is so exciting.

　Marilyn Monroe's several performances in the Philippines were also scheduled in the evening: one on the lawn of the Manila Hotel, one on the campus of the University of the Philippines, and one at the Subic base of the US military stationed in the Philippines.

　Perhaps due to the general laxity and inefficiency of tropical peoples, even for a concert, the Philippines is slow and sluggish.

　Miss Monroe's USO concert at Subic Air Base to comfort American soldiers has already been completed a week ago. The other two gala performances that require local Manila artists to perform are still being prepared at a snail's pace.

　There is no exact number as to when it will be held.

　So, the American team members who followed Miss Monroe to the Philippines, because they were bored, soon wandered around the casinos and red-light districts in Manila, enjoying the enthusiastic service of Filipino girls. Some even stayed out all night because of the fun and lost contact along the way.

　Unfortunately, unlike those who came to the Philippines for pleasure, Fili, with his beautiful women by his side, had little interest in Manila's brothels and casinos, preferring to spend time with Marita. Unfortunately, the scorching heat also made him feel drowsy and unmotivated in bed.

　Fortunately, as a tropical island country, the Philippines has never lacked lightning, thunder and heavy rain. Whenever dark clouds cover the sky, the mighty raindrops pour down, washing away the unbearable summer heat, bringing a brief coolness and comfort, and also invigorating people's spirits.

　"Oh, you're feeling refreshed, but I'm in a terrible state! You've rubbed me raw! It wasn't a big deal back in the San Fernando Valley, but now that we're out here, I'm the only one to handle you. A few weeks is fine, but after a while it's too much!"

　Marita, lying on the bed, rubbed her swollen crotch with her hand and complained distressedly. Her beautiful body, as white as snow, was covered with water droplets and her long hair was tied up and fixed behind her head, "Why don't you call two Filipino girls to help me share some of the firepower?

　As long as you don't go somewhere else to eat secretly behind my back, and play with me here, I won't object..."

　Even if you don't want to go out, there are local call girls in the Manila Hotel who provide door-to-door service. As long as Filipino hints to the hotel waiter, he will send a menu-like roster with photos of various Filipino girls and a price list.

　Compared to those street prostitutes, the girls at the Manila Hotel generally look better and have higher quality, and there are even part-time female college students.

　Even Dr. Kissinger often invited a few Filipino girls to his room to conduct "social research" in person.

　Out of boredom and curiosity, Fili and Marita also asked for the booklet to look at it and found that the girls in Manila were indeed quite beautiful.

　After all, although pure-blooded Filipino women are generally unattractive, often thin, dark-skinned, and with flat noses, the Philippines is a land of diverse races. Historically colonized by Spain, the United States, and Japan, and with a large influx of Chinese immigrants, the Philippines has seen an endless stream of mixed-race beauties. The most beautiful Filipino women are generally of mixed race.

　As the core of the rule of the United States and Spain in the Philippines, Manila has the largest number of mixed-race girls in the entire Philippines. Judging from the photos, each of them has an excellent figure, smooth skin, and round buttocks, just like honey, full of tropical style.

　However, like Russian girls, the shelf life of Filipino beauties is also very short, and they are usually no longer attractive after the age of 25.

　Manila's environment is quite ordinary, with serious air and water pollution. Without the money to maintain it, even the most beautiful face will quickly fade. Furthermore, Manila residents have terrible eating habits. Although rice is the staple food, locals rarely eat vegetables, relying on chicken, pork, and seafood as side dishes. They also particularly enjoy grilled and fried foods, as well as sweets and carbonated drinks—they're like Russian bears eating rice!

　With such unhealthy eating habits, unless Manila girls exercise and maintain their bodies, their bodies will definitely be deformed before they are 30 years old.

　Even many beauty pageant winners, once they reach around 30 years old, have become so bloated that they can be called fat women.

　For example, Mrs. Imelda Marcos, who was in charge of receiving Marilyn Monroe this time. Although she was once known as the "Goddess of Manila" for her beauty nine years ago, in Fili's eyes, her foundation is good. However, her face has become rounder and her figure has become a little fatter...

　As a pampered congressman's wife, Imelda obviously cannot lack maintenance, so it can only be that her shelf life is too short.

　Of course, if it's just a short-term rental, Filipina girls are still very cost-effective. But Filipina doesn't like "short-term rental".

　"Well, how should I put it? When it comes to women, I prefer to hold on to them for the long term rather than just plug and throw or have sex everywhere."

　Looking at the call girl roster Marita held up, Fili shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm a relatively traditional person..."

　"Yeah, it's the same tradition as those Mormons in Salt Lake City, keeping multiple women in the house like cattle..."

　Marita put down the roster, stood up and said jokingly, "Compared to the passionate Mr. DiMaggio, you are far inferior!

　Eh? Mr. DiMaggio seems to be having tea with Miss Monroe over there! Also sitting there are Mr. Marcos and his wife!

　It's really strange. They seem to have only known each other for a short time, so why are they chatting so happily? "

　Following Marita's hand, Fili turned his head and looked out the window. Sure enough, he saw two couples in an outdoor café not far away, enjoying tea and chatting. Marilyn Monroe, with her blonde hair dancing and her laughter rolling on her chest, was a sight that filled him with joy.

　DiMaggio and Senator Marcos also had a pleasant chat and even passed cigarettes to each other as a gesture of friendship.

　Hey, I have to say, but all the big shit

　People who are extremely evil usually have their own outstanding qualities.

　As the most famous hard-core scumbags in the Philippines in the future, the Marcoses were indeed quite capable in some aspects.

　When Marilyn Monroe arrived in the Philippines, the Philippine government was required by law to send a reception. However, unlike Japan, which bore the guilt of defeat and was devastated, the Philippines maintained a certain air of dignity and considered it unseemly to have the president and first lady come out to greet her.

　In addition, considering that Marilyn Monroe was a world-class porn star, it would be a huge contrast if the woman who greeted her was mediocre in appearance.

　Coincidentally, the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, a member of the Philippine House of Representatives and leader of the Liberal Party, was a former beauty pageant winner and was renowned for her beauty. Therefore, the Philippine government and Congress nominated the couple as representatives to greet Monroe and her group at the airport.

　Originally, after the welcoming ceremony, the two sides would not have much interaction. However, the Marcos couple seemed to have a strong connection with Marilyn Monroe. They frequently visited Monroe at the Grand Manila Hotel and even took Monroe and DiMaggio to local social events.

　Marita initially thought this was just groupie behavior among movie fans, but after observing for a few days, she realized something was amiss.

　How should I put it? It feels like they're actually making friends!

　"Ah, well, how should I put it? As far as I know, Mrs. Marcos and Miss Monroe both came from unfortunate families and were poor girls who came to the big city to work hard. Moreover, they both became famous and successful in almost the same year.

　So, Mrs. Marcos should have something in common with Monroe? Perhaps she also wants to expand her network to the United States?"

　Fili thought for a moment and speculated, "As for Senator Marcos? I suspect he sees a touch of his father in Mr. DiMaggio."

　"Seeing my father's shadow?" Marita was stunned for a moment, then looked at the obviously Chinese-looking man from a distance. At first glance, she thought Ferdinand Marcos was from Fujian. "How is that possible? They don't look alike at all!"

　"I'm not talking about looks, but personality and experience. There's a bittersweet story here that could be described as romantic.

　Many, many years ago in the Philippines, a beautiful mixed-race girl fell in love with a wealthy young man of Chinese descent named Cai. However, the Cai family was a wealthy Chinese clan, and Mr. Cai's parents looked down on this mixed-race girl whose family only ran a small shop, and forcibly blocked their marriage.

　At this time, the unmarried pregnant girl was helpless and could only marry Mariano, a classmate who pursued her despite knowing the truth, in order to find a father for her unborn child. In the end, she even asked Master Cai to be the godfather of the child..."

　Fili explained, "The child of this mixed-race girl is now Senator Marcos. So, seeing Mr. DiMaggio so infatuated with Miss Monroe, perhaps he thought of his nominal father, Mariano?"

　Marita listened with rapt interest to this love story, which combined elements of "true love," "a bootlicker," and "a backup," and asked Filip how he knew about it. Filip explained that in today's media-rich world, celebrities have little privacy, and that Marcos's background as the son of a bootlicker was, if not universally known, at least a household name in Manila.

　Moreover, although he had no real blood relationship with his nominal father Mariano, Marcos always respected his father and his filial piety could almost meet the standards of the ancient "Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars"!

　More than 20 years ago, Mariano had a conflict with a man named Narondasan, who threatened Mariano with death. Furious, Marcos sneaked into Narondasan's home with a pistol and shot the man who had humiliated his father.

　What do you think? He was willing to kill someone for his father. Such filial piety is enough to be selected as a "filial and honest official" no matter how you look at it, right?

　Due to the inefficient judicial system in the Philippines, it took a full three years before Marcos was arrested at university for the assassination of Narendasan. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese army invaded the Philippines. Marcos took advantage of the chaos, dragged his guns up the mountains, formed a team, and fought guerrilla warfare against the Japanese for several years.

　After the end of World War II, Marcos entered politics with the halo of a "war hero" and became a member of parliament. Nine years later, he met Imelda, who had already gained considerable fame as a cover girl at the time. He married her after only eleven days of knowing her and won her heart.

　The next year, Senator Marcos would become Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives and President in 1965.

　Up to this point, it seems to be an inspirational story of a poor boy who successfully turned his life around through hard work and courage, and climbed to the top of the ladder.

　However, if they continue like this, this humble couple who have reached the top will become the most famous hardcore scumbags in the Philippines...

　The Philippines is also the richest country in Asia, with per capita income and university enrollment rate second only to Japan in Asia.

　Thanks to the large amount of light industry transferred from the United States, Philippine products were now popular in the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets, and even exported to the Middle East. Chinese journalists who went to Israel to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the end of the 20th century were once puzzled as to why the instant noodles and vinegar in Tel Aviv were all produced in the Philippines: this was actually a continuation of market inertia since the 1960s.

　Manila, as the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, is a financial center that far surpasses Hong Kong and Singapore and is known as Little New York.

　The Filipinos who came to Hong Kong at that time were not humble maids, but arrogant investors representing consortiums.

　Looking around, Li Huanggua in Hong Kong was still making plastic flowers and plastic buckets; Singapore was just a remote island that had just been kicked out by Malaysia and had a bleak future; Malaysia was thinking all day about how to win investment and tourists from the Philippines; Indonesia was in the midst of bloody internal strife between the left and right factions and high-pressure martial law; Myanmar had fallen into an endless and long civil war where weak factions were fighting each other.

　Mainland China is heading towards the catastrophic abyss of ten years of turmoil. Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia have been ravaged by war, leaving mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Thailand, amid widespread rebellion and bloody suppression, relies on transsexuals to attract foreign exchange. Taiwan is also mobilizing women to work as prostitutes and compete with Thai transsexuals for clients.

　Looking across Southeast Asia, the Philippines in the 1960s was truly "the best place to be" and was known as one of the two "beacons of democracy" in Asia, along with Japan!

　So, what was the Philippines like when Marcos was ousted in the 1980s, twenty years later?

　Well, the economy collapsed, deindustrialization occurred, crime was rampant, and drugs were rampant. The low-level light industries that the United States had invested in the Philippines in the past have basically moved to Thailand and South Korea; the Philippines' economic crop industries such as rubber and palm oil have also been snatched away by Indonesia and Malaysia; the Philippines, which originally had no foreign debt, is not only heavily in debt, but has also lost the ability to repay international debts, and cannot even pay the interest.

　The public security in big cities has completely collapsed, the gap between the rich and the poor in the Philippines has widened rapidly, 70% of Filipinos have fallen into long-term hunger and extreme poverty, and Manila citizens generally rely on eating kitchen waste for a living, and this cyberpunk lifestyle of eating garbage will have to continue for at least half a century.

　The Filipino conglomerates in old Hong Kong films have disappeared, replaced by the Filipino maids that can be seen everywhere in new Hong Kong films.

　During these two decades, President Marcos amassed a personal fortune worth at least $10 billion, including thousands of properties and 29 private jets. His wife, Imelda, even bought jewelry by the kilogram. It can be said that he drained the wealth of an entire nation to enrich his own family.

　Compared to Prince Sihanouk, who had no savings abroad, had to buy on credit to treat his mental illness in the United States, and was almost thrown out of a mental hospital, the gap between the two was really huge (in the end, Secretary of State Vance personally paid $15,000 to Prince Sihanouk to settle the bill).

　Later, when many Filipino intellectuals recalled the "golden years" of the 1950s and 1960s, they would deeply detest President Marcos, believing that it was his two decades of dictatorial rule that caused the Philippines' national destiny to fall to the bottom and never recover.

　Some people also compared President Marcos of the Philippines with South Korean President Park Chung-hee, who came to power at about the same time, saying that Park Chung-hee's 20 years of dictatorship brought the Han River Miracle to South Korea, which was in a cesspool, while Marcos' 20 years of dictatorship brought the once prosperous Philippines into a cesspool.

　Some even imagined that if the "traitors" were punished early, the Philippines might be able to maintain its status as a developed country on par with Japan!

　However, to be realistic, based on Philippine's observations in Manila and its surrounding areas in recent days, even if Marcos had not become president, or if South Korean President Park Chung-hee had switched places with Marcos and sat on the throne of Philippine president, it is unlikely that any miracle would have been accomplished.

　Even with Park Chung-hee's governing style, he might even end up making things worse and turning the Philippines into an even more failed civil war country, all the way to becoming like Somalia!

　Why? Because the same governance model cannot be applied to a single-ethnic state and a multi-ethnic state.

　It should be noted that both Japan and South Korea are mono-ethnic countries, and almost all Koreans are Koreans of the same language and ethnicity. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Japanese also share a unified understanding of being a "Yamato people."

　But in the Philippines, what percentage of citizens identify with this country and consider themselves "Filipinos"?

　Unfortunately, only about one-fifth.

　In the Philippines, the Tagalogs, a "pseudo-majority ethnic group" comprising only 20% of the population, monopolize economic and political power. Even into the 21st century, the term "Filipino" still refers solely to the Tagalogs, and Tagalog is the sole national language of the Philippines.

　Furthermore, the Visayans, a "true majority ethnic group" that makes up 40% of the country's population, are treated like minorities despite being twice as populous as the Tagalogs. This isn't the kind of preferential treatment that gives minorities extra points on the college entrance exam, but rather the racial discrimination similar to that faced by African Americans in the United States before World War II.

　——As early as the era of Spanish colonial rule, the Tagalogs had already contemptuously called the Visayans "barbarians". Later, during the independence movement, there were constant conflicts between the Tagalog and Visayan rebels, and there was no harmony at all. They even did not hesitate to introduce foreign forces to compete with each other.

　Place

　As a result, the Americans were able to take advantage of the situation and, by sowing discord and leveraging the opponent's strength, swallowed up the entire Philippines in one gulp.

　It's easy to imagine that the Visayans would be unconvinced by the Tagalogs, who were riding their coattails. And with their sheer numbers, they could also create considerable momentum. But as long as the Philippines' capital remained in Manila, the Tagalog capital, the Visayans were destined to be at a disadvantage.

　In addition to the Tagalogs and Visayans, the two major ethnic groups that are fighting each other openly and secretly and quarreling endlessly, there are hundreds of other small ethnic groups in the Philippines, ranging in number from only a few thousand to millions, including more than one million Chinese.

　The civilization history of some Filipino ethnic minorities is even longer than that of the two major ethnic groups, the Tagalogs and the Visayans.

　For example, on the Chinese Internet, the Philippines is sometimes called "Luzon" and sometimes "Sulu".

　But the former is fine, the latter's relationship with the Philippines is even more distant than the relationship between Poland and Russia.

　——The Sulu Kingdom that came to the Central Plains to pay tribute during the Ming Dynasty was not on Luzon Island at all, and had never been conquered by the Spaniards. It was located in the Sulu Archipelago at the southernmost tip of the modern Philippines, adjacent to Borneo (Kalimantan Island). Like Ryukyu, it was originally divided into three countries, each with its own monarch. Around 1450, the Sulu people converted to Islam and established a unified Sulu Sultanate.

　Next, starting from the 16th century, facing the invasion of the Spaniards, the Sulu Kingdom persisted in resisting for three hundred years and never surrendered.

　In the late 19th century, when the Philippines launched an independence movement against the Spanish, the Sulu Empire continued to remain a bystander, as they did not consider themselves Filipinos at all.

　——When the Sino-Japanese War ended and Taiwan was occupied by Japan, the Sulu Kingdom was still stubbornly alive in this world!

　It was not until 1915, after the outbreak of World War I, that the Sulu Kingdom was invaded and conquered by the US military, the last sultan was deposed, and then incorporated into the Philippine colony.

　Therefore, using Sulu to refer to the Philippines is probably as absurd as using Thailand to refer to China, or saying that all Chinese are Thai.

　Furthermore, consider this: doesn't the fall of the Sulu Kingdom coincide with the "Japan-Korea merger"? Given the profound resentment Koreans harbor towards Japanese colonial rule, how much identification would the Sulu survivors, whose nation was destroyed at the same time, have with the Philippines, a country with a different culture and ethnicity?

　This shows that the concept of national self-determination and anti-colonial slogans put forward by US President Wilson at the end of World War I were extremely hypocritical. This is because just a few years before, he had personally destroyed an ancient country with a 400-year history and incorporated it into his colonies:

　Perhaps in President Wilson's mind, he never considered people of color other than white people as human beings?

　After all, the Koreans were conquered by the Japanese army, and they admit that they were capable fighters. But it was the US military that conquered Sulu, so what does that have to do with the Tagalogs?

　There are many ethnic groups in the Philippines with similar situations. So it is no wonder that even in the 21st century, there are still many people in the Philippines who want independence - it is thanks to the successive Philippine presidents who are all flexible and adaptable that the country's territory has been barely maintained.

　If a tough and powerful general were to descend from the sky, I am afraid that the entire Philippines would be defeated and even the national system would be destroyed.

　In short, the Philippines may seem to share a similar geographical location to Japan, being closer to major shipping routes and boasting abundant natural resources, but nations are ultimately built on their people. However, judging by the citizens who make up the core of their nations, Japan and South Korea achieved ethnic integration thousands of years ago, while the Philippines is still far behind, and even its future integration remains uncertain.

　The Philippines is actually the same as Yugoslavia in Europe. It is a patchwork country that is barely held together by external forces and is at risk of disintegration at any time.

　Even in the 1950s and 1960s, when the Philippine economy was at its most prosperous, the light industry that developed rapidly relying on foreign investment from Europe and the United States was concentrated around the capital Manila, mainly benefiting the 20% Tagalogs who were the ruling ethnic group.

　The seemingly good per capita income and education level are all driven by the Tagalogs' super-national treatment.

　As for other ethnic groups in the Philippines, they basically still have a "primitive and abundant" style. They are lucky enough to have a decent pair of pants to wear at home. The indigenous people of several southern islands, regardless of gender, work naked in the fields - however, in their extremely hot and humid climate, going naked has been the normal way of life since ancient times. Wearing a complete set of clothes to work may make them sick, right?

　Therefore, 80% of Filipinos other than the Tagalogs did not benefit much from the Philippine economy's boom, so they would not feel much sadness when the Philippine economy declined, and they even did not have a deep sense of identity with the national entity of "the Philippines".