[Just another Joe]

They came up with a price they knew we would not pay as an excuse to drive us out through diplomatic means.

Pretty much, but it wasn't because of the Marcos years.
It had more to do with the fact that they thought we owed it too them.
I guess for protecting them all those years. I don't know why else.

I lived in the PI for 5 1/2 years and was there when Marcos was deposed.
The only people that wanted us out of the bases were the politicians.
The normal people never wanted to see the bases empty and sitting idle.

[Destro]

I remember (and I was a kid and it was a long time ago) the Filipino political establishment being pretty anti-American and paranoid of another American backed coup. Irrational? Yes. But that was the diplomatic eviornment at that time.