Monopolies in the Philippines (1965–1986) granted PD 1468, which declared the money as private and prevented any government audit. Cojuangco bought San Miguel Corporation (SMC) with the funds from the Coco levy. SMC is one of the oldest and largest beer, food, packaging and livestock conglomerate in the Philippines. President Marcos gave favors to SMC once Cojuangco became its head. Taxes were raised for liquor and cigarettes in January 1986, but excise taxes on beer went down. Beer is one of the main products of SMC, which helped the corporation save as much as $40 million that year. When Marcos was President, he often wrote
Spain during World War II and great destruction of Spanish properties in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation. To that effect, in 1954 Japan concluded 54 bilateral agreements including one with Spain for $5.5 million, paid in 1957. Spain during World War II The Spanish State under Francisco Franco did not officially join the Axis Powers during World War II, although Franco wrote to Hitler offering to join the war on 19 June 1940. However Franco's regime supplied Germany with Blue Division to fight specifically against Bolshevism, in recognition of the heavy assistance it had received from Germany and Italy in the Spanish Civil War.