SANTA ANA, Philippines -- This spring, after 47 years as a local politician, Manuel Mamba for the first time found himself at the center of a national firestorm.
Mamba is governor of the Province of Cagayan, a sleepy corner of the Philippines' remote northeast. He found his district the subject of heightened interest in April when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced four new military sites would be expanded for use by the U.S.