ABSTRACT
The Philippines entered an era of independence as a very different place from the self-satisfied colony that entered World War II. Sergio Osmena was put into the difficult and compromising position of doing the bidding of the United States colonial masters, of collaborating with Washington rather than Manila. But Washington's perspective on collaboration was challenged vigorously by those who lived through it in Manila. On January 2, 1942, the Japanese army occupied Manila. One of the most complicated aspects of the restoration of the status quo ante was the issue of collaboration with the Japanese. Over the next twenty-five years, the Philippines rebuilt itself, entered into a period of fairly rapid economic growth and even more rapid population expansion, and values that defined the nation and have shaped its personality. This era has often been vilified, or at least discounted as the old order, worn like a comfortable, if torn, old slipper.
