You have to balance things out
Some of the usual "plunder" suspects also GENERATED wealth for/in the country.
Spain is a common answer, but her infrastructure investments here alone
were staggering in today's pesos. The bulk of the 'wealth' that the Spaniards
chiefly 'plundered' wasn't even Filipino wealth: it was Mexican/Peruvian
silver coin shipped out of Acapulco to Manila, used to pay for Chinese goods
that were sent back to Spanish American and European markets.
Some of that coin was meant for local Philippine circulation but was lost
to chronic outbound smuggling, as bullion: whereas the Spaniards stole
from the eximport budget, it wasn't them denuding the Philippines of
circulating silver coin.* The Philippines were a net loss for Spain, especially
after Spain's colonies in the Americas won their independence, cutting off
the supply of silver that helped bankroll Spain's Asian colony.
The U.S.? Again, balance of payments data doesn't lie: the Philippines were a
serious drain on American finances --which is why they were eager to grant
independence (a process interrupted briefly by WW2). US were so desperate
to ditch us, they didn't even wait for us to rebuild. We were jettisoned in '46,
a smoking war-ruin barely able to manage as a nation/state. Yeah, yeah....
the Tydings-McDuffie Act pegged it July 4th of '46, but the US could have
superseded it with a delay if it wanted to. We were a losing proposition, and
the war made us worse. The US wanted to be rid of us because we were
effectively plundering THEM.
Japan? That should have been covered by war reparations, yes?
Ask the Laurels what happened to the money.
Yamashita's Treasure is a red herring: firstly, there's no proof; and secondly,
even as alleged, it was looted from multiple Southeast Asian countries,
least of them the Philippines.
Under each of those regimes, there is one common thread of alarm over
economic sabotage and smuggling, from 1598-1869 under the Spanish,
from 1899 to 1938 under the Americans, and 1941-1942 under Japan,
and it all points to one group: Chinese residents.
Total amount lost to them during the Spanish colonial period alone, might
be as high as US$280 Billion in today's dollars. The US was quick to impose
debasement to our silver coinage to prevent smuggling to China, but the
loss from 1899-1912 in today's money was perhaps US$9 Billion, and all
the figures used above are only about outbound smuggling of gold/silver,
and exclude smuggling of other goods:
It's not just that smuggling deprives the Philippines of import/export tariffs,
it's that local industry is drowned by the dumping of cheap Chinese imports,
and the loss to our economy over the centuries is just ...numbing.
JM2P, YMMV, we were fucked over hard, and keep taking it today.
*there's evidence the Spaniards were chronic smugglers of Philippine gold
(from diverse panneries and mines in Bondoc and Bicol), and this was
considerable into the mid 1600's, but again, this was more than offset by
Spanish investment in Philippine infrastructure.
If these conquerors generated wealth for the Philippines then we should encourage more countries to plunder the Philippines. As of now China would be the leading candidate, followed by Russia or maybe some middle eastern country, I'm sure this will be the good for the country.
we should encourage more countries to plunder the Philippines. As of now China would be the leading candidate, followed by Russia or maybe some middle eastern country, I'm sure this will be the good for the country.
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