American Manila

So I've been spending some time revisiting the Philippine war, and i've been wondering about an alternative "solution". It seems that before and after the war, there was both a strong anti-imperialist sentiment and calls to annex the Philippines into America for economic reasons. I've been wondering, what would have happened if the government had taken the middle of the road approach. Lets say right in 1900, rather than just taking the entire country, the American government had annexed the top half of Babuyan island. We kept Manila, used it as an eastern trading port, and let the rest of the islands do as they pleased. Encouraged immigration, that sort of thing. This solution seems like it would please everyone the most (or at least anger most people the least..)

So fast forward to 2012, where would they be now? Statehood? A massive metropolitan area? How would it affect the balance of power in Asia, since we wouldn't have just a military base in Guam but an actual populace? This also probably would warp WW2, since the Japanese may strike there first and earlier.

anyway, thoughts?
 
Statehood for an island next to Asia doesn't seem likely to me, but with all the butterflies, it's hard to tell.
 
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