WHY OUR HOMELAND DID NOT INDUSTRIALIZE WHEN IT COULD
(US State Department. Policy Planning Staff Secret Paper PPS-51: U.S. Policy Towards Southeast Asia)
Hi All,
Been sorting out my books for donation back home which included "A Documentary History: America in Vietnam." While browsing it, I came across a document marked "SECRET", PPS-51 prepared by the US State Department back in March 29, 1949. This Paper defined the initial, post-WW2 US position on Southeast Asia. Soon, US foreign policy during the Cold War incorporating PPS-51 officially became NSC 68.
What caught my attention was not so much that PPS 51 was a secret document but the fact that it contained the objective of America in our region and that of course includes our homeland.
During the 1960's student activists, the few nationalist politicians and businessmen wrote and shouted rhetoric about American imperialism/neocolonialism designs for our country.
Back then, we seem to hear or read what seemed to be allegations (no documented proofs) of a grand design:
Uncle Sam to keep our country agricultural, a source of raw materials for export and discourage industrialization.
Somewhat related, I remember during a job interview by Esso aka Exxon about being asked my opinion on whether the Philippines should go into petrochemicals manufacturing.
This Secret Paper PPS-51 is a proof of that grand design. Of course, it worked only because of the mendicant attitude and Americanized minds of our national leadership, then and now.
Hereunder are selected parts of PPS 51:
1. To define US policy toward Southeast Asia, including Indochina, Burma, Malaya, Siam and the Philippines.....
76. We should accept the fact that the crucial immediate issue in Southeast Asia --that of militant nationalism in Indonesia and Indochina --can not be resolved by any of the following policies on our part:
(1) full support of Dutch and French imperialism,
(2) unlimited support of militant nationalism, or
(3) evasion of the problem.
80. In order to minimize suggestions of American imperialist intervention, we should encourage the Indians, Filipinos and other Asian states to take the public lead in political matters. Our role should be the offering of discreet support and guidance. Politically, Japan should be kept in the background.
81. We should seek vigorously to develop the economic interdependence between SEA, as supplier of raw materials, and Japan, western Europe and India, as suppliers of finished goods, ...To achieve these ends we should emphasize primarily the fourth point of the President's inaugural address. Every effort should be made to initiate and expand programs of technical assistance both through bilateral agreements and through international agencies. The propaganda value of the President's fourth point should be exploited....
- Source: Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, VII, pages 1128-33.
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NOTE: To those who wonder "why dig the past": We engage in revisiting and revising our past, i.e. historical "revisionism", to develop new emphases and raise new questions on assumptions and explanations for key historical issues and policies --given by our former colonial master America, government officials and authors of history books, then and now.
In our homeland's case, we can not afford a "balanced" approach to historysince in the past and present years, our homeland's history, as it refers to Philippine-US relationships, has been imbalanced in favor of the Americans, who as far as we baby boomers can remember, are only "the good guys" and "do-gooders" in history.
It is time for us, especially for Filipinos-in-the-Philippines to recover our history, a nationalist history, which necessitates uncovering the lies and myths about America; since the American arrival into and 50-year occupation of our homeland, the sweet nothings about "Philippine-American Special Relations", etc. perpetuated through our school textbooks, mass media, government pronouncements, Filipinos with Americanized minds, etc.
We Filipinos, here and abroad, past and present, relied and continue to use official explanations that lead only to our ignorance of hidden truths and knowledge of untruths, thus perpetuating the post-WW2 neocolonial conditions that brought only worsening impoverishment to the native (Indio/Malay) Filipino majority; foreign control of the national economy and the dwindling of our national patrimony.
”We gave the Philippines political freedom to enter the world family of nations, but did we give them internal political liberty? More important still, did we grant them economic freedom?” – Harold L. Ickes, longest tenured U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1933-1946)
"The chief business of America is business" - President Calvin Coolidge, 1925
"The glory of the United States is business" - Wendell L. Willkie, 1936
Why did Japan attack Pearl harbor and what did they do to the wealth and treasures of Asian countries they conquered? After plundering these countries of their treasures (gold bars, jewelries, even the gold reserve of England brought to Singapore for fear of Hitler in Euro), they brought them to RP and deposited them in various places such as Forts, churches, caves, beside the hills, etc) and after the war, Philippine leaders, McArthur and the CIA connived and dug these treasures some in Fort Mckinley, Corregidor, and other places. What did they do with these treasures? America distributed them to 41 countries that were fighting communism at that time. But a sizeable amount of these treasures reached Japan and that's what they used years later to industrialize their country. But mind you, there are still around 1/3 or more left in the Philippines, both on land and water all over the country.
ReplyDeleteIf only we have an honest government and people, these treasures are just waiting for the digging.
Please don't tell the world about this. This is the SECRET OF THE CENTURY revealed in a book entitled THE GOLD OF THE SUN.
Our country is the richest in Asia, both in natural resources and hidden treasures. The statute of limitation has expired, those countries that were plundered had signed an affidavit declaring Japan bankrupt in their surrender. These treasures still abound in our country. Who got benefited? The Australians and the Balikatan in Basilan. They have the technology to locate these treasures. We don’t. We're just like roasters or cocks just good in crowing!
As a people, because of our greed, personal interest, selfishness, me first mentality, corruption, etc. has not profited from these treasures (except for a few like Marcos) that were brought to our land without our own doing. Therefore it is like God given fortune that is left unexplored until now for the good of the many in our land of fortune.
"We Filipinos, here and abroad, past and present, relied and continue to use official explanations that lead only to our ignorance of hidden truths and knowledge of untruths, thus perpetuating the post-WW2 neocolonial conditions that brought only worsening impoverishment to the Malay Filipino majority; foreign control of the national economy and the dwindling of our national patrimony."
ReplyDeleteWell said, and I agree with your statement. In order to be able to deal with the Americans properly, we must understand the kind of relationships we have had with them in the past... especially those truths that have been kept from us.
I would like to share with you and your subscribers what we think is the truth when Americans bought the Philippines from Spain for $20,000,000 or at a price of $2/head.
See http://reklamo.ph/ampoy
Hi Tet,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
Bert