I just finished a chapter in Robert D. Kaplan’s’ “Imperial Grunts the American military on the ground.” Special forces were doing a low-key good job in the P.I. winning hearts and minds in the war against muslims. The P.I. military is corrupt with the NCO class being very pathetic. The other motivation is setting up a HQ for a potential war with the Chicoms. Kaplan’s books are excellent.
When it came to Ferdinand Marcos the quote as “At least you knew who to bribe.” It was stable.