You got to be someone born and raised in the Philippines - this country located far at the other side of the immensely wide Pacific Ocean and facing west of South China Sea - to understand and appreciate the impact of US occupation on its society. The Philippines is not anymore a US commonwealth, unlike Puerto Rico, since after World War II in 1945. But up to now, the impact of the half-a-century of US occupation reverberates practically in everyday life of most Filipinos. It’s felt most strongly by those whom we may call the “dregs of society,” many of whom may have stopped now in hoping that their elitist leaders will think and act on realizing their collective dreams for a more progressive and modern Philippine nation. For practical purposes, we enumerate the areas where this occupation may still be felt, though relatively not as strong or critical as before:

1) The spread of providing public education: it’s known that the US spearheaded more aggressively the provision and delivery of schooling paid by public coffers to unheard-of-areas of the archipelago. During US occupation, it became fashionable to go to elementary and high school, and for some to go to college. This generally introduced the hazy idea behind spreading enlightenment to majority of the populace which up to now continues.

2) The introduction of the concept of “press freedom,” which still continues in the country, though not a few journalists and media practitioners have died in the course of duty lately. Consequently, and up to now, there’s practically no other country, at least in Asia, that maybe described as having a “freer” media, i.e. nosy and rambunctious, than what can be seen in the Philippines (and it’s guaranteed in the Constitution).

3) The continuation of putting too much value on elitism among its leaders plus their influential relatives, although not spoken loudly in most sectors of society. You see this being much displayed in the attitude of entitlement by those who have (and those who think they have) versus the have-nots. Nothing much the US could do about this now, but the US occupation must have certainly ignited the deep longing and nationalistic desire of the local elites, after the eventful abortion of declared independence from Spain in 1898, to get involved and serve in public administration, and private affairs, one way or another - they immediately replaced and brought to themselves the benefits enjoyed by American leaders in 1945. But it has brought bad consequences that up to now continue. For example, the dispensation of justice, an abstract concept to most, still continues to be practiced. Only, this works to your advantage if you are able to understand - read, write, speak in English - the language used by most administrators of the system. Also, no jury system exists up to now. With certain exceptions, the system favors primarily members of the country’s elitist society.

4) The collaborative and dependent tendencies of the national Philippine government with the US government, in certain areas of governance have always been noted and observed, especially if viewed by an outsider. Security matters, almost always involves the US government which, as said before, is physically based on the other part of the globe (with exception to the powerful presence of the US embassy in Manila, and its consulates and offices in other areas of the country). The Philippines continues to be a solid ally of the US in Asia, in many areas, even up to these days, which gives some people strong ideas that it’s still its “colony” up to now.

5) Most American cultural effects continue to be felt and followed in practically the whole Philippines. This goes on practically in all fields, from the use of English (which is an official language, as mandated in its constitution), the distribution of US-made movies and TV shows in all media circuits, the tunes of music played in radio stations, the many FM stations sounding like they’re broadcast here in the US complete with American twang, the latest fashion and style, etc. Most visitors would get strong impressions that Manila, the capital, is actually another version of West Coast’s metropolitan Los Angeles (minus the space, and highways).

6) The US remains to be the biggest trade partner of the Philippines - see statistics in this link: http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/sr09457tx.html The impact remains strong, even though there’s a trend of trade deficit on the side of the US, that is felt in many fields of trade and industry, considering the physical distance of the 2 countries from each other. For example, you may have observed the big number of customer service personnel originating from the Philippines - the English tone sounds fairly familiar between users and listeners as a more recent by-product of many years of doing business together. Needless to say, this is a legacy of the half-a-century US occupation, but which may work out more evenly following the common interests of both nations eventually.

7) The difficult-to-qualify impact suffered by the Philippines from its active participation in the actual theatre of World War II (WW II) remains to be appreciated and seen in a better light. Being still a commonwealth of the US when WW II took place, the country suffered worst being that close to Japan, the enemy of US then. Manila’s destruction was considered second to Poland’s Warsaw, and the unnecessary tribulations and deaths that took place, that even up to now, a lot of terrible and heroic stories remain untold and not seen in their proper perspective (e.g. “Comfort Women” from the ranks of Filipino women, who perished - a few survived - but remain ignored officially up to now).

8) And up to a certain extent, the US occupation has opened up the gateways for some other religions to be extensively introduced to the Philippines, most particularly the many brands of Protestantism. You see them now in the country with their adherents, including the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Adventists, the Baptists, the Evangelicals, the Episcopalians, the Latter-day Saints, etc.

But as others have said, the process of nation building takes time. Directions are changing bit by bit, as they say. The impact of the said occupation may soon dissipate, even before most of us interested viewers may have the luxury of time to notice it.

For a viewpoint coming from an American, you may want to consider reading James Fallows article on the Philippines, being a “damaged culture” in this link: http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/1987/11/a_damaged_culture_a_new_philip.php