From M. N. Francisco and F.M.C. Arriola 1987. The History of the Burgis. GCF Books. Quezon City available at Ad Infinitum in Chicago.

The Americanization of Pepe and Pilar (peddled as modernization) transformed consumption habits towards a preference for US products, or for that matter, anything imported. It re-oriented Filipino aspirations towards the American way of life. Some symptoms of colonial mentality:

• a bowl of plastic apples, grapes and pears on the dining room buffet
• an imitation Louis Vuitton bag and Gloria Vanderbilt jeans
• plastic evergreen trees laden with absorbent cotton-'snow' for Christmas
• the log cabin steakhouse
• Broadway plays emoted in a studied New York cum British accent
• the search for local counterparts to Hollywood stars or the rise and fall of Diomedes Maturan as the Perry Como of the Philippines
• always saying 'ang sarap parang mansanas!'
• getting a nose lift and a bust lift
• carpets and upholstered sofas copied from Better Homes and Gardens (for the dust and heat of the tropics)
• shopping trips to Cash and Carry (and Dau and nepo Mart) for PX goods
• putting an American (or Japanese) brand name on a local product so that it will sell
• following the dictates of fashion magazines through spring, summer, fall and winter (thank God, the air gets cooler around December)
• dyeing one's hair with auburn streaks
• insisting that the maid speak to the baby in English
• preferring to be an American citizen (Hodel survey 1960) or wanting to have been born in another country (UP survey of schoolchildren)
• hoping the US will intervene in ousting a homegrown dictator