Harry S. Stonehill resembles the kind of character that the
late Sydney Greenstreet used to play in all the old Warner Bros,
beaded-curtain thrillers. A blunt, beefy Chicagoan who changed
his name from Steinberg in 1942 because “German names at
that time weren't very popular,” Stonehill built up a $50 million
business empire in the Philippines. “Every man has his price,”
said Harry Stonehill, and in the Philippines after World War II he
found that the going rate was fairly cheap; at one time he boasted:
“I am the government.” Stonehill's activities in the Philippines were a major embarrassment
to honest President Diosdado Macapagal, who swept into office
last year, vowing to clean out the corruption that had proliferated
under former President Carlos Garcia. Last March Macapagal had
deportation proceedings brought against Stonehill, charging him
with “economic sabotage, tax evasion, political interference,
misdeclaration of imports, influence peddling, and corruption of
public officials.” But rumors persisted that Stonehill was tied up
with top members of Macapagal's own Cabinet. Last week, as government investigators continued to poke through
some 300,000 seized Stonehill documents, Macapagal accepted the
resignations of two Cabinet ministers; they were not guilty of any
misdeeds, said the President, but they had been too closely associated
with Stonehill; and members of the government, “like Caesar's wife,
must be above suspicion.” Then Macapagal moved in in earnest to end Stonehill's career in the
islands. Bilko to Baron. That career began during his U.S. Army service in
the Philippines in World War II, when he supplemented his lieutenant's
pay with some off-duty wheeling and dealing that enabled him to
drive a Cadillac. After discharge, Lieut. Bilko decided to stay in the
Philippines, where the living was easy. He made a nest egg selling
Christmas cards, soon graduated to army surplus. When import
restrictions went up on U.S. cigarettes, Stonehill began growing
Virginia tobacco in the hills, became the Philippines' biggest
cigarette baron. His own brand: Puppies. With his booming tobacco business as a base, Harry Stonehill
expanded into oil, glass and, according to government charges,
bribery. He lavished presents on government officials, the government
case continues, and though foreigners are forbidden to make
contributions to political campaigns, freely contributed money to the
candidates of his choice. Stonehill also kept telephone wiretapping
equipment handy, maintained a complete dossier on all his government
contacts. Winking at Stonehill's illegalities became almost a governmental
tic; investigators charge that he illegally imported cigarette paper into
the country, declaring the shipments as “school supplies,” and
manufactured cigarettes illegally. Another charge: that he smuggled
$34 million out of the Philippines when dollar exports were illegal
without a license.
