Guess what? Even if the British had taken over the Philippines for good, it's unlikely that they would have done better job than Spain. Witness the observations made by British travelers to the Philippine in the 19th century:
"[In the Philippines], Spaniards and natives lived together in great harmony, and I do not know where I could find a colony in which the Europeans mixed as much socially with the natives. Not in Java, where a native of position must dismount to salute the humblest Dutchman. Not in British India, where the Englishwoman has now made the gulf between British and native into a bottomless pit."
And again...
"...the Filipinos were as happy a community as could be found in any colony. The population greatly multiplied; they lived in competence, if not in affluence; cultivation was extended, and the exports steadily increased....Let us be just; what British, French, or Dutch colony, populated by natives, can compare with the Philippines as they were till I895?"
Both of these quotes are taken from:
The Story of the Philippines by Phillip CampbellFor a while, yes. But...
The Spanish left behind a lot of bad influences (as with many other Hispanic countries) that resurfaced after the US granted Independence. Philippines after independence was often lauded as the “Tiger of the Pacific” and expected to dominate, instead it economically and politically rotted. Compare to the success of Singapore (wow!), and, for that matter, but not quite so spectacularly, Malaysia, which is actually not doing too badly.
Don’t get me wrong - my wife is a Filipina and in general I love the people!