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All of these things are magnified many times when it comes to the Philippines and Filipino women. Twice during the past hundred years, we liberated them from foreign oppressors, first Spain in 1898, then Japan in 1944-45. Yes, we ruled the Philippines between these two wars, but during the course of that rule, we created institutions for democratic self-government, including popularly elected legislatures and an independent judiciary they had never experienced before. We also wiped out many diseases that had plagued them for centuries through public vaccination programs, created a free and compulsory public school system, and were always on hand to provide relief when natural disasters struck.
Our second liberation of the Philippines was noteworthy for our supreme commander keeping his oath, made more than two years earlier, to return and defeat the hated invaders. To this day, Filipinos believe us to be men of our word. The courage, heroism and determination of the G.I., which Filipinos witnessed with their own eyes, made a profound impression on the women. When postwar treaties established US military bases northwest of Manila, many thousands of Filipinos women headed straight for the towns around these bases with the dream of loving and marrying a liberator, and later, his sons and grandsons.
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Thousands of marriages resulted, many beginning when a lonely serviceman wandered off his base for an evening's diversion and found himself gazing at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. That dream remains very much alive today even though the bases are gone. The success of these marriages got back to the wives' families and soon the hunt was on for more American husbands, not necessarily in the military. Of course, the Filipino establishment, especially the Catholic Church, has taken a dim view of this quiet rebellion by their female population. They have planted anecdotes in their puppet press about abusive American husbands, but with so many happy marriages now common knowledge throughout the Philippines, this campaign has had the effect of locking the barn door after the cows have fled.
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