The Philippines as America's 51st State?

Recommended Posts

Castaway
Posted
Posted

What if the Philippines had remained in American hands and became America's 51st State?

flag.JPG

 

First off, the question of whether the Philippines would accept independence or become a state of the United States of America had been debated often throughout the Twentieth Century. A number of prominent nationalists such as President Manuel Quezon had wanted independence by all means. He had said that he preferred "a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by the Americans"... he got his wish.

Nevertheless, a large number, which probably did not exceed the majority of the population, wanted the Philippines to become a state and probably regretted the missed opportunity after first, Alaska, and then Hawaii became the 49th and 50th US states, respectively.  It was probably because, many of the Filipinos wondered what it would feel like to be sovereign and to have no other country dictating terms to it like Spain, the USA, and Imperial Japan did. They really wanted independence and the freedom to chart their own course in history.

The American Congress was probably of two minds as well. They didn't want all those millions of Filipinos to be able to immigrate freely to the USA and possibly dilute the "American Dream" for their own citizens. But they also didn't want to give up control of strategic military bases in the Western Pacific or to lose access to those millions of Filipinos who could be buying products labeled "Made in the USA." 

In the end they did as earlier administrations had promised, and awarded independence to the Philippines while keeping access to both Clark and Subic bases and enacting one-sided trade agreements with the fledgling Philippine government that was trying to recover from wartime devastation.

but.JPG

Let's assume that the Philippines had rejected the Treaty of Manila that had offered independence to the colony and had voted instead to become America's 51st state. How would it now be like for America to have 100 million Filipinos as US citizens in a time zone that is almost 12-hours offset from its Eastern Seaboard?

  1. American companies would have a huge internal market to sell to easily or to move to if they also wanted to sell to the rest of Asia. They would hire Filipinos who have already proven to be among the best deployable labor force in the world as well as a never-ending source of qualified professional talent such as teachers, medical professionals, caregivers, seamen, construction workers, soldiers, singers, and entertainers. Those American businesses might call that a missed opportunity when they see the type of students who now graduate from their own high schools and colleges and compare them with those produced by the Philippines.

  2. America might still have had to contend with a low-level insurrection by a variety of anti-American rebel groups roving the Philippine country sides and sea lanes. However, just like today, the localized insurgencies would provide a steady training ground for its high-tech military and a ready source of military manpower as Filipino recruits join the US armed services in droves, acting in the same way the vaunted Ghurkha soldiers did for the British Empire. The Filipino style of cultural assimilation with Filipino Muslims and ethnic Chinese could also become a working model for confronting Islamic terrorists with Filipino-American Muslim soldiers and counter-terrorists.

  3. The US government would now be staring nose-to-nose with a China that may or may not have rearmed dramatically after American companies attempted to penetrate their mainland market but decided to pull back and continue instead to invest in companies based in the Philippines. The USA would virtually own the Pacific Ocean from bases in Japan, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, and American Samoa, so neither Russia nor China could dare to challenge the USA's "Pax Americana" in maritime affairs.

  4. The entire American population would have a lot of tropical islands to vacation to when it's wintertime. They would be able to enjoy the world's longest Christmas season as early as September! Many of these older US citizens might settle permanently in the Philippines even as many Filipinos emigrate from the Philippines to the North American US States (CONUS).

  5. The Philippines would have substantial political clout within America's political system and might already have elected its first Filipino-American female President or Vice-President.

The entire world would have been radically changed if the Philippines had become a US State. America would have become the primary superpower much earlier and been able to fight the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other long-term conflicts with a lesser drain on the continental US population.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reboot
Posted
Posted

Three main colonies were part of the Spanish American War.

Philippines

Cuba

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico remained as a sort of halfway house between full independence and statehood.

Philippines full independence but with close relations to US. Cuba got taken over by Commie a-holes and went from a relatively wealthy and developed (for Latin America) country with friendly US ties to an enemy shithole.

ROP is not a rich country, and as an archipelago of thousands of islands, extremely hard to defend (and too expensive to do properly on the national budget). The country also occupies a strategic location, making it a very attractive target for conquest by any power that wants to dominate the waters of that part of the world.

The Filipinos have pride in their independence, and that's good. But under the circumstances, what they need is a powerful friendly ally with an interest in the region that respects that independence. That's always been the USA.

China looks on with greedy eyes.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave Hounddriver
Posted
Posted

I could not picture a United States that gives statehood to RP before giving it to Puerto Rico or Guam.  It would put a lot of noses out of joint.  So I see it as a moot point.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jack Peterson
Posted
Posted

:89: Surely though, had this happened all those years ago they would have been the 49th State? or most certainly before the 51st

 just asking :huh:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave Hounddriver
Posted
Posted

It would be more realistic to discuss statehood in Puerto Rico.  Read more here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/12/puerto-rico-votes-become-americas-51st-state/

In short, the governor of Puerto Rico says: 

Quote

 

"We have been a colony for 500 years,” said Mr Rossello, elected in January on a platform of achieving statehood.

“We have had US citizenship for 100 years, but it's been a second class one."

 

Now if they cannot get Statehood with those credentials, the chances of Philippines ever getting could be related to the proverbial snowball in Hell.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tukaram (Tim)
Posted
Posted

I doubt they would get statehood here.  It would be great for the Philippines, bad for expats.  But the anti-American politicians would never let it happen.  (not sure if the US would really care to do it anyway)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Castaway
Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

:89: Surely though, had this happened all those years ago they would have been the 49th State? or most certainly before the 51st

 just asking :huh:

 

2 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

It would be more realistic to discuss statehood in Puerto Rico.  Read more here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/12/puerto-rico-votes-become-americas-51st-state/

In short, the governor of Puerto Rico says: 

Now if they cannot get Statehood with those credentials, the chances of Philippines ever getting could be related to the proverbial snowball in Hell.

Understandably, the train for Philippine Statehood has long left the ‘proverbial’ station.

The point of this topic was to offer a ‘what-if’ scenario that is often discussed in my home among my Filipino relatives.  There was no intent on my part to suggest bringing the Philippines back into the hands of the USA and make it a State (regardless of whether it would have been the 49th, 50th or 51st).

Plus, the Statehood of Puerto Rico is a topic worthy of discussion on its own merits. Personally, I have Puerto Rican friends who live in the 50 US States with the same American citizenship (that all Puerto Ricans have) and they have the same rights as all other first class US citizens. Hopefully, Statehood will come to the people of Puerto Rico, so that they will have a chance of living better lives in their homeland without having to flee to the 50 States. Keep in mind that they have no need for visas to travel to the 50 States and US territories since they are already American citizens.

 

Edited by Castaway
old age
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

marine6357
Posted
Posted (edited)

Ok just a thought on this. Population of ROP is approximately 103 million citizens so would then make up the largest state population size. They would have considerable political influence with that size. Now California has 12% of the House of representatives at 53 members. Based on population figures ROP would have approximately 24.9% of the population in the US.which would give them about 110 representatives in congress.

Edited by marine6357
calculations incorrect
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OnMyWay
Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I could not picture a United States that gives statehood to RP before giving it to Puerto Rico or Guam.  It would put a lot of noses out of joint.  So I see it as a moot point.

I agree.  It never would be considered back in the day or now.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MikeB
Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, marine6357 said:

Ok just a thought on this. Population of ROP is approximately 103 million citizens so would then make up the largest state population size. They would have considerable political influence with that size. Now California has 12% of the House of representatives at 53 members. Based on population figures ROP would have approximately 24.9% of the population in the US.which would give them about 110 representatives in congress.

The House of Representatives is capped at 435. If another state or states were added it may be temporarily increased but reapportioned back to 435. That's what happened with AK and HI. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...