"The presence of a white face works wonders and we get instant attention."

Absolutely true. Yes, it's white privilege and more than a little shameful...but it's real. I've experienced it in every nation I've been to, but it does seem more deeply ingrained in the Philippines.

"Medical attention, for the most part on the Philippines, is on a pay as you go basis. No pay, you go."

Also very true. My youngest son caught leptospirosis after having (stupidly) drunk water out of a creek on a hike up in Ilocos, and he wound up in St. Luke's in Manila. White privilege got him in there - they assumed that he could pay because whiteness (he's biracial of course, but can pass for full white) - but the bill after just over a week of ICU was about $8000...and they wouldn't discharge him from the hospital until he could pay.

Yes, it is sorta like Hotel California: "you can try to check out, but you can never leave (until you pay up)". My wife flew there from Seattle, we settled accounts, and everything was soon better - and to be sure, they did save his life. Another couple days without top-notch medical attention, and I don't think he would have survived.

But of all the things I learned in the Philippines, the most surprising is that for all the poverty and injustice, the people there are generally happier than we are here in America. My personal theory is that thanks to the general tolerance that people have for each other, combined with the fact that even the rich are often only a generation or two from poverty, most people are sincerely grateful for the blessings - even the small everyday blessings we Americans would hold with contempt - they have...and one cannot be sincerely happy without gratitude. As Cicero said, "gratitude is the greatest of virtues, and the parent of all the others." The Philippines has a host of problems, but we Americans would do well to learn the lessons they can teach us about life and happiness.