Meng Shaoyuan finally got what he had coveted for a long time:

Labor certificate!

This means that he controls one of Manila's most important financial revenues.

Although, this money is nothing to him.

But who cares about money?

Moreover, for Meng Shaoyuan, who aspires to become a corrupt official, this is undoubtedly a big step forward!

It is said that President Osmina was furious when he learned that he wanted to hand over labor taxes and personally summoned Durkom and asked him to explain the matter.

All Durcombe said was: "What else can I do?"

What else can I do?

As soon as these words were spoken, President Osmina fell silent.

Yes, what can he do?

If Colonel Charles continues to refuse to cooperate, then there will be big problems not to mention the reconstruction of Manila, even its operation.

President Osmina sighed deeply.

so be it.

Everyone is willing to be the puppet of the Americans.

Meng Shaoyuan, who had obtained labor tax rights, also began to become busy.

He promoted Xiang Haizhong, who had been alone overseas for a long time and was determined to remain unchanged, to be solely responsible for the issuance of labor certificates.

Therefore, Xiang Haizhong instantly became a popular powerful man in Manila.

Meng Shaoyuan also did not forget those US military officers.

He asked Lieutenant Nate to assist Xiang Haizhong.

Obviously, the benefits should be shared by everyone.

In this way, a lot of trouble can be avoided.

And it can earn the gratitude of these US military officers.

After all, the Raider battalion is currently stationed in Manila, far away from the battlefield.

Their mission is to be responsible for the security of Manila and the port, and to receive wounded soldiers sent from the front line.

Under such circumstances, allowing these American soldiers to earn a little more money will definitely earn their "loyalty."

The American officers and soldiers in the Raider Battalion liked their commander very much.

Because no matter what the benefit is, Colonel Charles will always be happy to share it with everyone.

The gold that Xu Zhu and Gan Ning were responsible for transporting was also being carried out in an orderly manner.

No one outside the Meng Shaoyuan Group would have thought that there was a huge amount of gold hidden in the Port of Manila!

In the morning, Meng Shaoyuan met with three groups of representatives from American companies.

They are all American companies involved in the Philippine reconstruction plan, and of course they will come to visit Colonel Charles Meng, a powerful figure in Manila.

Meng Shaoyuan was so exhausted.

After lunch, I was just about to take a rest when Coston and Peng Bilan came again.

They also brought a well-dressed middle-aged man.

Meng Shaoyuan's head was as big as three.

If I had known this job was so hard, why would I bother doing it?

But when Couston made an introduction, Meng Shaoyuan immediately paid attention to it.

Doyles Wilkinson.

Nominally, he is a financial advisor to Citibank, but he also has another identity:

The Philippine plenipotentiary representative of the First Citibank Group, Bank of America Group and Texas Group!

This is incredible.

Before World War II, the U.S. economy was basically controlled by eight major financial groups, and they also controlled the U.S. state power.

After the end of World War II, the emerging First Citibank Group, Bank of America Group, and Texas Group quickly squeezed out the Kuhn-Loeb Group, which was originally one of the eight major financial groups.

Meng Shaoyuan immediately had a smile on his face.

This guy is interested in rich people now.

Moreover, he has kept a large amount of deposits in Citibank since he was in Shanghai.

He is a big customer of Citibank.

These three consortiums are also involved in the reconstruction work in the Philippines, providing loans to participating American companies.

So, as the plenipotentiary representative of these three major consortiums, Wilkinson holds an astronomical amount of funds in his hands.

Wilkinson first complimented him, and then talked about the purpose of his visit.

"Colonel, thank you very much for meeting me." Wilkinson said, "I have been in Manila for a few days, and during this period, the current situation in Manila has made me sad.

Manila, and even the entire Philippines, must quickly restore order. And now the most scarce thing in the entire Philippines is funds. Therefore, on behalf of Citibank, Bank of America and Texas Money Management Company, I am willing to provide loans to all classes in the Philippines.

Let them get out of their current predicament quickly."

Holy shit!

This is coming in advance to suck the blood of the Philippines.

Meng Shaoyuan immediately understood their intention.

Wilkinson is right. The most scarce thing in the Philippines right now is actually funds.

But where does the money come from?

The U.S. government provides limited resources.

So, these American consortiums appeared at the most appropriate time.

Ordinary Filipinos don’t need to think about getting funds from them.

Their targets are naturally the Philippine governments at all levels and the upcoming Philippine companies.

While controlling their financial lifeline, they also control the political lifeline of the Philippine government.

In the future, the Philippines will become a cash machine for these large American conglomerates for a long time.

The progress of history also fully illustrates this point.

In 1932, in order to reduce the burden, the U.S. government passed the "Haile-Harveys-Gatin Independence Act", allowing the Philippines to become independent.

However, what was unexpected was that the bill was rejected by the Philippines on the grounds that some provisions were harmful to its interests and demanded that the United States enact another independent law.

Can you imagine that the mother country allows the colonies to become independent, but the colonies flatly refuse?

Then, the United States approved a new independence act in 1934, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, granting independence to the Philippines on July 4, 1946. During the transitional period before that, the Philippine Autonomous Government was established.

During the 10 years of self-government, all Filipino citizens and officials were loyal to the United States, and the United States provided certain care for the Philippines.

However, before the transition period passed, the Pacific War broke out and the Philippines was occupied by Japan. Naturally, independence was postponed.

After the end of World War II, the United States demanded the independence of the Philippines in accordance with the previous agreement reached with the Philippines. Therefore, in 1946, the Philippines gained complete independence.

Although the falling of the Stars and Stripes and the raising of the Philippine flag announced the official end of the more than 40-year colonial rule of the Philippines by the United States, this end was only formal, and the United States' political control over the Philippines did not relax.

.

In addition to political issues, the core of U.S. economic control is to make the Philippines dependent on the United States for survival.

The United States provided massive aid and huge loans to the Philippines.

But the decision on how to use these funds does not lie with the Philippine government. Every plan to use these funds must be submitted to the United States for review and approval.

Therefore, these aids are mainly used to restore agricultural products processing industries, such as sugar mills, mining and coconut processing plants, so as to better export primary products to the United States.

However, basic industries that are urgently needed by the Philippine economy, such as the textile industry, fertilizer industry, metallurgical industry and other industries, have been selectively ignored.

Therefore, providing economic assistance is not "developing the Philippine economy" and "laying an industrial foundation for the Philippines" as claimed by the United States. The Philippines' economic structure is still stuck in the colonial stage and is deeply dependent on the United States.

Secondly, in order to "make good use" of these aids, the United States established a number of US aid management agencies in the Philippines and dispatched more than 200 experts and consultants to the Philippines, scattered in various key departments of the Philippine government, responsible for supervising the use of US aid, thus

It became the starting point for the United States to openly interfere in the internal affairs of the Philippines.

At the same time, their average annual salary reaches US$50,000, while the salary of Filipino employees is only US$460,000. This, coupled with huge administrative expenses, has placed a heavy economic burden on the Philippine government.

Judging from the aid recipients, most of these economic aids have fallen into the pockets of American capitalists and Philippine big landowners and big compradors.

The United States used independence as a threat to force the Philippines to sign the Bell Trade Act.

Under this unequal bill, the United States receives an average of 6.4 billion pesos in tariff exemptions per year, while the Philippines receives only 69 million pesos.

Therefore, the Philippines’ annual losses from zero-tariff free trade alone are as high as 300 million pesos.
To be continued...