"It's American, very American, ultra American," so says one recent visitor to the Manila Elks Club, a private club in Makati, the Philippine capital's modern business district, in a comment on the establishment's public Google page.
The Manila Elks Club has long had the reputation of being the rear base for American influence in the Philippines. It was the meeting place of John David Forbes, a former US diplomat who died in 2023 and who founded the Arangkada Forum, located in the same building. According
