What If the Philippines Became a U.S. State? 🇵🇭

I remember this event in history as a pre-teenager. I remember my parents, teachers and neighbors talking about, I remember my mother and father discussing the Pro's and Cons at our Dinner Table. However, the debate just fizzled out after a few months and the rest is history when the Philippines declared its independence from the US, July 4, 1946. I was 12 years old then...and dreaming to see the US and my first snow... My Dream of seeing the US was finally realized when I came to the US as a Graduate Student at the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1960..

What If the Philippines Became a U.S. State?

After World War II, there were real talks and petitions for the Philippines to become part of the United States. Imagine if that actually happened — and the islands became the 51st state.

Filipinos would hold U.S. citizenship. The economy might mirror Hawaii or Guam — but on a much larger scale. English could dominate completely, and politics, education, and culture would be deeply Americanized.

But what would we lose in return? Our identity, language, and independence? Would Manila be another Los Angeles — or something entirely different?

If the Philippines became a U.S. state, would it be a paradise of progress — or a nation that forgot itself? Watch this short video:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/994706296135639

Moreover....What If Filipinos Never Accepted Christianity?

When Spain arrived in the 1500s, they didn’t just bring soldiers — they brought the cross. Over time, nearly the entire archipelago converted to Christianity.

But imagine if Filipinos had resisted.

If the old beliefs — the worship of Bathala, anitos, and the spirits of nature — had survived. The islands might have remained a blend of native faiths, Islam, and regional traditions, more like Indonesia or Malaysia.

Without churches and friars, would the Spanish have stayed long? Would the Philippines still have been colonized — or would our story have followed a completely different path?

How different would our identity be if we had kept our ancient gods?

Meanwhile, Did you Know that.....

Enrique Iglesias Mother is a Filipina. Isabel Preysler Arrastía (born February 18, 1951) is a Spanish and Filipino socialite and television host. She is the mother of singers Enrique Iglesias and Julio Iglesias Jr., journalist Chábeli Iglesias, Tamara Falcó, 6th Marchioness of Griñón, and Ana Boyer Preysler.

Preysler was born in Manila, Philippines, the third of six children to a wealthy family. She attended Assumption Convent (now Assumption College San Lorenzo), a private Roman Catholic school.

Finally, Did you Know that.....

Long before Magellan or Legazpi, the Philippines was already on the map of world trade. Ma-i, believed to be located in present-day Mindoro or nearby Luzon, was first recorded in Chinese Song Dynasty annals in 971 AD — making it the earliest known Philippine polity in written history.

It traded beeswax, cotton, pearls, and tortoiseshell with Chinese merchants, proving that the islands were already part of global commerce nearly 600 years before Spanish colonization.