Quotes from Sterling Seagrave

Patronage, not democracy, was the most important force in the islands.

militant Fascism was a natural ally of extortion.

The leading clans (mostly natives of Fukien Province on the mainland opposite Taiwan) were traditional and conservative, and maintained close ties over the decades to the Chiang regime in Nanking and later in Taipei.

I got down on my knees and prayed to Almighty God for guidance. And one night late it came to me: we could not give [the Philippines] back to Spain — that would be cowardly and dishonorable; we could not turn them over to France or Germany … that would be bad business; we could not leave them to themselves — they were unfit for self-government. There was nothing left for us to do but to take them all … then I went to bed and slept soundly.

To be convicted of a crime in the Philippines is almost to be convicted of lacking influence.

After ten months of "all-out war" on smuggling, not one boss or financier of a smuggling syndicate had been prosecuted or imprisoned.

Onshore, Aguinaldo's rebel forces gained control of all the countryside except Manila, and he declared independence on June 12, 1898. Filipinos became the first Asians to throw off European colonialism. It was instantly replaced by American colonialism.

The war had lasted three years; only 883 Americans died in battle, 3,349 more of disease. Of the 1 million dead Filipinos (out of a population of 6 million), 16,000 were guerrillas, 984,000 civilians.

With America's blessing, Manila under the Marcoses became a center for money-laundering, arms trafficking, narcotics, amphetamines, gambling, white slavery, and the world center for child prostitution.

If government becomes a lawbreaker it breeds contempt for law: it invites every man to become a law unto himself.

The most shop-worn joke in Manila was that the Philippines had spent "three hundred years in a convent, fifty years in a brothel." The oligarchy kept the keys.

Self-interest in Filipino politics was openly celebrated.

Marcos Axiom — everything said is the opposite of the facts

If you have imaginary enemies, it is possible to have imaginary victories.

was permitted to start business. Soon the royal partner ran up such huge debts on equity that the company went bankrupt. The Chinese partner was left with the bill, and could not leave Thailand until his family paid everyone off. He had been royally plundered.