It’s also true that we always felt a bit of guilt, for our colonial past here sullies our self-view as a noncolonial power. This invariably worked to Manila’s advantage. It’s also true that the other colonial powers in granting independence in Asia and Africa did so from a position of weakness, following World War II. We emerged richer and stronger. We represented a rising sun, theirs was setting. That widened the gap between Manila and Washington, but not by much; there were just too many personal, institutional and military links.
It’s simple mythology to say we ever thought of our Filipino counterparts as little brown brothers. We saw and continue to see the Philippines as a substantial player in a critical geographic position. It is true that at the time of Edsa 1986, President Ronald Reagan, for whom I worked, and his influential wife Nancy had a peculiarly sentimental view of the Marcos couple. Even a president as distant from policy levers could be influenced in a government like America’s. Personal friendships worked, too. Ferdinand Marcos’ one-time reformist executive secretary, Alejandro Melchor, was actually in the Executive Office Building helping us man the cables. At the denouement, most of us involved gathered at the CIA, and we watched and cheered as an American Huey lifted the once-imperial couple off from Malacañang.
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