The Philippines was a Spanish colony for four hundred years and an American one for fifty. As such, it is a mixture of indigenous, Spanish, and American influences. Becoming independent in 1946, it functioned as an imperfect democracy for twenty years before dictator Ferdinand Marcos took over in 1965, ruling until 1986. Marcos was like Suharto an authoritarian leade governing a divisive, not wel lorganized or disciplined nation. There was con siderable development under Marcos, but it was sporadic and uneven, often di verted to Marcos' family members, and nowhere near the level of the East Asian tigers. Although blessed with abundant natural resources, the Philippines, like Indonesia, has been unable to organize them efficiently as part of a coh the national development strategy. In addition, Philippine political culture, like Indonesian, is not oriented toward the same disciplined, organized, hard-driving developmental goals as are the East Asian tigers.