You make great points, but my question is...So what? I’m not trying to be snide, either.
PI, more importantly Duterte, doesn’t want us there, fine. He’ll soon realize where all his money is coming from and going when all the US personnel move out. He’ll soon find himself and his country slaves to either China or Russia and they won’t be throwing the cash or the aid around like the US and the US military personnel do. Of course, he won’t be the one that will feel the full weight of his decision or the debt trap that he seems to be creeping into, it’ll be the small business owners, landlords and all the other folks that make a living off the US military.
Amazingly, if you travel through the Middle East, i.e. Dubai-Doha, when you go through those airports(which are pretty effin’ nice) all you see are Filipino’s working in almost every job.
The US gives the PI very little aid in truth.
My calculation is under 0.5% of the Philippine budget.
This isn’t the 1950’s anymore. Its not even the 1980’s.
There aren’t a lot (relatively speaking) of Filipino employees or landlords paid by or through US spending.
As for those employees in the ME - there are millions of Filipinos employed there - and elsewhere. Nearly all of them work for private employers, not the US government.