Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a “separation” from its long time ally the United States and his observation that America has “lost” the battle for influence in the Pacific reveals a deeply embedded, complex psychological struggle about that nation’s history and identity.

While the vast majority of Filipinos have a favorable view of American colonial rule in the Philippines, the controversial defense cooperation between the two and a long-lasting image of the Filipinos being “little brown brothers” of the “blue-eyed enemy” arise from time to time and disrupt the alliance. In 1991, President Corazon Aquino forced the US troops to leave the country and closed the famous Naval Station at Subic Bay and storied Clark Air Base.

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