ASB
I'd have to say ASB for the reasons already stated above. Filipinos were, and still are, stubborn about sovereignty and independence, even if US statehood meant a likelier chance for a higher standard of living. From the American POV, I don't think they'd be interested either considering how far we were to the mainland not only culturally but geographically, too. Guam is as probably as far as the US would get, and this would be easier to control because of the extremely lower population compared to the Philippines. I dunno, we just seem
too far, in the whole sense of the word, from the mainland.
Although there is something to Puerto Rican-style statehood. Weren't they also Catholic, Spanish-speaking, and brown?
Dure said:
Catholic, Spanish speaking AND brown! The only way the USA would take the Phillipines as a state would be if the American pacification of the Phillipines were at least two orders of magnitude more genocidal than it actually was. Scorched earth followed by plantation.
If you mean somewhere near the beginning of the century, then yes. But the Philippines became less and less Spanish-speaking as the years went by, and today the typical Filipino you'd meet wouldn't know an inkling of Spanish, save for diffusion of several words to our own language.
And isn't there already a thread about this?
EDIT: ok found it
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=133559