Interesting post and I agree for the most part.
Though it seems a strange question, since it was technically stolen and put there by 'foreigners' in the first place.
That is one thing that makes treasure hunting so unique and fun, anyone can do it, from any corner of the earth, from any class of society, age of race; rich or poor, black or white, good and bad - fishermen to businessmen, rice farmers up to the president, all do it. though so few ever find any treasure.
Yes, you're right about a lot of the Gold coming from Europe, and America, most of this was re-smelted and re-stamped in the Burma refinery, which was British owned, Before, During and After the war. You see, this was a global planned event which included people from around the world at the highest levels of monarchy, military and corporate. Those would be the same British/European banking consortium who own the US federal reserve, which began shipping gold out of U.S. and into Europe in the early 30s.... you see the chess board was being set, well in advance to the war. This is how they plan any of their global events, and why they seem so damn well organised.
Disagreed on the Submarine Blockade, there is much more to that story than most people talk about. The plan to bury this in the Philippines came years before the war ever began. It was fairly neutral territory, The emperor never had intentions to bring the treasure all the way, as to keep it from falling into the hands of his opposing Japanese Parliament. They did assume above all else that the Philippines could remain under Japanese military control, but they were of course wrong. but that has not stopped their recovery efforts.
So yeah it's really a 'finders keepers' game generally. does not matter where you're from. but then again if you're not careful you can lose it to one of the many groups out there waiting to relieve you of it, Filipinos and foreigners.
A good friend of mine once told me there are 3 types of TH - The Hunter, The Finder and The Keeper.
Those who hunt don't always find and those who find don't always keep. Trick is to become all 3.
I've had good and bad experiences working with filipinos here, just like i've had good and bad experiences with foreigners here, an asshole is an asshole whatever color you paint it.
Japanese arrogantly believe it all belongs to them, which is why they're sooo reluctant to speak to anyone else, apart from locals whom they generally control and keep at arms length during a project.
But then again since technically the Philippines was U.S. soil after they kicked out the Spanish, and was still U.S. soil during the Japanese era up until just after the war. So techincally the treasure was all buried on American Soil. That is why the american powers see it as theirs.
Not to mention China, who I'm told a majority of the Treasure actually came from.
So it's all a bit of a conundrum really.
I'd just try and weave my way through the petty conflicts and political ambitions and try to find even just an ammo box of coins or a bar.
When we drop the flags and erase the borderlines, we are really all just one people after all. But so many obstacles have been designed to divide us and turn our attention away from the truth.
Proud to say I've had more good times than bad working with people out here, american and filipino, and many of those friendships are what I will always treasure.
