While the privatized society of the Federation was able to answer the question of who would build the roads, their answer left much to be desired. Existing roads were privatized and turned into toll roads, and new ones built to cater to those who could afford them. The highways, some dating back to before the Acquisition, were jam-packed with vehicles. From what I heard on the plane to Manila International Airport, these traffic jams can last the better part of the day. The fortunate motorists were on roads that only charged a toll upon entering; others charged by how much time a vehicle spent on the road, a situation that made only the shareholders happy. Street vendors no longer plied the streets as they did in the days of the Philippine Republic; the owners of these private roadways would never permit trespassers, and those who could afford a sales license operated online and delivered their goods to motorists via drone. A few "executive" highways crisscrossed the city, accessible only to those who could afford the exorbitant toll. These highways were empty, barring the occasional luxury car. Flying over the streets of Manila, I felt that the bitcoin I spent to buy an aeromobile ride to the headquarters of the Federation Board was well-spent.



As the aeromobile touched down on the landing pad, I rummaged around my seat for the filtered mask I purchased at the airport. Despite the best efforts of the more tourist-minded corporations to capture smog with the latest technology, Manila is still the most polluted city on Earth, no thanks to the industries that moved to the city to take advantage of its nonexistent environmental regulations. While the travel brochures assured me that I needed to reside in Manila in order to develop any health problems, I wasn't going to take any chances. I didn't quit smoking to get a lungful of carcinogens just by being outside.



Atop the Federation headquarters, I could see most of the city; at least, what I could see past the smog. Skyscrapers shot up from the ground like mighty trees, covered in gaudy advertisements promoting exquisite dining, the newest films, the latest synthetic drugs or the hottest girls in town. I had not the time, inclination or money to partake in any of these activities, although I had it on good authority that the most powerful men on Earth make regular visits to Manila to do just that. Instead, I was here to explore what those men pay through the nose to run away from: politics.



I was escorted by my pilot to the rooftop entrance, what I would later find out is a "complimentary" service that was charged to my account without prior notification. Upon seeing me off, he made a mad dash back to his aeromobile; I suspected he wanted to maximize his fare for the day. Upon entering the rooftop lobby, I felt like I was transported to another world. The walls were covered with advanced displays, making the room look as if it were on an island resort. I was greeted by a smartly-dressed man, wearing a yellow tie with the Voluntarist emblem gaudily polka dotted all over it. He was several inches shorter, and several shades lighter, than the two guards flanking him, but he was still clearly Filipino. Having heard what I have about the Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists, I was sure this was going to be an interesting interview.



"It's a live feed from one of our locations in Boracay," he told me in perfect American English. "Mr. Chaná, I presume?"



I nodded and extended my hand. He shook it quickly.



"Alexander Alvarez, Vice Director of Public Relations," he replied. "I am here to answer any questions you have, to the best of my ability." He gestured to a hallway and asked me to follow him.



As we walked down the hallway, I left the simulation of Boracay and was greeted by walls covered in advertisements for the Federation's services. Road construction and repair, electricity and other utilities, police and other emergency services. Each ad had a brief explanation of various tiers of services, ranging from the most rudimentary to luxury services. They also advertised discounts if someone was signed up under a certain insurance company, or was employed by a certain employer.



Finally, I entered Vice Director Alvarez's office. Fortunately, he told his guards to stay outside for the duration of our interview. Unlike the rest of the building I have seen so far, Vice Director Alvarez's office was reasonably decorated. A few degrees hanged from the walls, a bookshelf with the expected works: Rothbard, Rand, and Hoppe, but also Orwell and, surprisingly, Marx.



"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," Mr. Alvarez told me, undoubtedly catching my eyes on his copy of Das Kapital. I commended him for his observation skills.



"In this business, you must be observant. My predecessor didn't understand that. That is why I am here and he is six feet underground." Mr. Alvarez glared at me, almost daring me to do, or say, something foolish. After a few moments, he broke off and apologized.



"Sorry, Mr. Chaná, for being so standoffish. But if you understand our history, you will understand that we are very suspicious of foreigners here."



The Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists is a corporate entity with total control over the island of Luzon. The island was populated by humans for tens of thousands of years before it was colonized by the Spanish and, along with the Visayan islands and Mindanao, was constituted into what would be called the Philippine Islands. Spanish control of the islands ended in 1898, after the loss of Spain to the United States in the Spanish-American War. Control was transferred over to the Americans, which established a protectorate over the islands. After a brief period of Japanese rule, the Philippines once again came under the control of the United States, and it was spun off as an American ally.



American forces would remain on the island until 2013, when the new libertarian, isolationist stance of the American government mandated the withdrawal of all American troops stationed in foreign countries. The Americans also rescinded their mutual defense treaty with the Philippines and other Asian countries. The power vacuum this caused in Asia was gradually filled by China, which sought to impose control over the key trade routes and resources of the South China Sea. Chinese activities in the region led to tensions with the Philippine government, and after the election of an ultranationalist president in the Philippines, war with the Chinese in 2022. The Chinese successfully invaded and occupied the Philippine islands for five years, before being ordered to withdraw back to China, which at the time was suffering from internal chaos. The rise of interventionist libertarianism in the United States led the Americans back to Asia, where they successfully defeated the Chinese, but there was little interest in the Philippines, which was in the throes of civil war. Instead, the American government encouraged private organizations and filibusters to "stabilize" the country. The American anarcho-capitalist movement, ironically encouraged by the government, looked at the Philippines as an opportunity to create their ideal private society, advertised it as a place to flee from statist oppression. Korean, Japanese and Chinese companies, eager to seize these opportunities, also joined in the scramble. These organizations, motivated by ideology and the possibility of profit, gradually took control of parts of the Philippines away from the central government, which was too corrupt and powerless to stop the process. Eventually, all of the Philippine islands came under private control.



"I am sure you are wondering why someone who works in PR is so hostile. My job here in Public Relations is not like other companies. The Federation enjoys a monopoly, and we are charged with protecting our private society. So while public relations for every other company on Earth may mean giving the company a positive, friendly image to the public, for me, it means making the enemies of freedom afraid."



Mr. Alvarez gave me the opening I wanted. I leaped at the opportunity.



"Like a propaganda minister?"



Instead of rebuffing my question, Mr. Alvarez nodded in agreement.



"I know where you're going with this. What is the difference between the Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists, and the states we so despise? I am an honest man, and I can admit that there are many similarities between the Federation's structure and that of a state. But there are many key differences. We are driven by profit, while states have no profit motive because they are not accountable to shareholders and they have no competition. The Federation is not a federation in a statist sense, it is a creation of Luzon's most powerful business entities, all of which are paying us to protect them from external and internal threats. If they are not pleased with our services, they are free to choose another protector."



I asked if this was a viable option.



"It is. We provide very little in the way of standard security services outside of Manila. Most companies choose to provide for their employees' security as part of their benefits. Our concerns are mostly political."



What political concerns were those?



Mr. Alvarez laughed. "This is a matter of great contention between ourselves and other anarcho-capitalists around the world, so I have made these arguments hundreds of times. We believe, as Hans-Hermann Hoppe did, that the expulsion of threats to a private society are necessary for the private society to exist, even if it infringes on their so-called rights. In fact, by being opposed to the private society, they are violating the Non-Aggression Principle."



The Non-Aggression Principle is the core of the Federation's philosophy. It is the belief that no act can be moral if it involves the use or threat of force against an individual or his property. By extension, the Voluntarists apply this to all state institutions, as states require taxation to function. Hence, the popular saying in the Federation and other "private law" societies: taxation is theft. Anybody "statist" found in the Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists is arrested and either summarily executed or forced into a privately-owned labor camp, all of their rights stripped away.



I asked Mr. Alvarez how holding an opinion could constitute violence. As I expected, he had a canned answer ready.



"Strictly speaking, holding an opinion cannot be a violation of the Non-Aggression Principle, because it is purely internal. But its expression is something completely different. Suppose I tell my guards to enter this room and hold you at gunpoint. Even if they have done nothing but point their weapons at you, haven't I committed a violent act? I would have threatened violence against you."



Does that justify the preemptive use of actual force? Including killing?



"Of course," Mr. Alvarez answered matter-of-factly. "If I point a gun at your head, would you hesitate to shoot me?"



And the slavery?



"Slavery is such a loaded term. It is detention for threatening force against peaceful individuals. Do you think that forced labor is more objectionable than killing? We only kill those who would rouse the rabble in prison, but we do not want to waste labor if we don't need to. The goal is to keep these people from being threats, not necessarily to kill them. And believe me, they are threats. Have you read what the communists have written? Have you heard what they say? They want a 'revolution,' and those are never bloodless. If they could, they would kill myself, my family, my co-workers, anybody who opposed them. They are threatening us by their very nature." Mr. Alvarez paused and gestured behind him.



"Out there, there are many threats to liberty. When I was a child, Luzon was like any other voluntarist society: we allowed the unfettered expression of any ideas, and the organization of any group for any purpose. We are a free society, so by necessity it means we are an unequal one. Many of the failures, the parasites who could not survive in a free market, they grew jealous of what those who were more capable and industrious than they had, so they began to form collectivist organizations and preach communistic poison to the masses. The Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists is a creature of necessity, it was created to stop these cretins from overthrowing our system and creating a communist hell in its place. One where everyone was equal, because everyone suffered equally."



I could not dispute the bare facts that Mr. Alvarez presented. By 2030, Luzon was split between several hundred large corporate entities, all of which took advantage of the island's poverty by employing locals at practically slave wages. Those who could not find a job had to rely on private charity, as there was no longer a state capable of providing basic welfare. The anarcho-capitalist ideology became popular among the companies there, as it gave them total control over their property and gave them an excuse to oppose the reformation of a Filipino state. Shantytowns filled with the jobless cropped up, only to be demolished by private security if the land needed to be developed, the inhabitants press-ganged into construction work. Some people did rise through the ranks, but for the poor, this came at tremendous sacrifice; some went into indentured to pay for their education, others did so just to be able to pay rent. Criminals flooded into the country, particularly rich individuals with eclectic interests, and they were shielded from prosecution so long as they did not enter the property of an individual or corporation that objected to their presence.



This state of affairs naturally bred resentment and the formation of far-left organizations, all with the goal of establishing a communist state in the Philippines. Finding support in some surprising places, such as the idealistic youth of the upper classes, the communists became a major threat to the continued existence of anarcho-capitalist Luzon. A debate raged among the more committed anarcho-capitalists and corporate leaders who wanted to oppose this threat, with the former arguing that the communists have individual rights too. Gradually, Hoppean anarcho-capitalism became the dominant voice. Arguing that the expression of any statist or collectivist ideology is a threat of force, it justified the use of any force against any who opposed the private law system. This argument held sway with the corporations, which formed the Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists specifically to stamp out any opposition to the system. The Voluntarists' security forces quickly rounded up any statists, suspected statists, and eventually even anarcho-capitalist opponents of the new system, and either killed or enslaved them. In exchange for these services, the Voluntarists gained de facto control over Luzon as a state entity.



The state-like nature of the Federation was a topic I wanted to get back to. I asked how the Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists is organized.



"We were established as a national defense corporation, so we had the same structure as any other corporation with one exception: we have no shareholders. Because we, admittedly, have a monopoly over our services, we can rely on steady revenue and so we need no separate investors. Our leader, CEO Steven Marrero, has been the Federation's sole controlling officer and makes employment decisions for everyone. Mr. Marrero himself designed the system so that we can do away with any semblance of democracy."



Why was democracy so bad?



"Democracy is the god that failed. Having the use of property decided in common means that no one individual is responsible for its use. A single entity can be held responsible, and so he has to manage this property well. Mr. Marrero may have absolute control over the Federation, but he also absolutely accountable for any failures."



Would the Federation would ever give back the freedoms the country once enjoyed?



"I hold the principle of freedom of speech very near and dear to my heart. I believe in the free marketplace of ideas: let the best ideas win in competition. However, the people are not ready for that responsibility yet. Statism is like a hard drug, it is very tempting but it can kill if abused. But the reason we permit hard drugs, and ban statism, is because if you overdose on drugs, you harm only yourself. Statism harms innocents who want nothing to do with it."



I asked Mr. Alvarez to elaborate on the point of the people not being ready.



"We understand that human nature is flawed, and it cannot fulfill the philosophy of non-aggression perfectly. Irrational action is something we must account for, which is why we must police the expression of statist ideas, even among the companies which pay us our fees. We do enforce our mandate without exceptions. We take bribery and corruption very seriously, because we understand that a market cannot function honestly without it."



Mr. Alvarez was clearly committed to his ideas. I asked him if he could see any flaws in it.



"Of course, no ideology can be implemented perfectly, so long as man remains imperfect. I acknowledge that our society has its inequities, but what society doesn't? We have many poor people in Luzon, but this island had many more poor people during the days of the Philippine Republic. Our system has generated a lot of wealth, attracted plenty of foreign investment, allowed us to take control of the South China Sea and all of the trade that goes through there. We have a lot of ultra-rich, as the world well knows, but we also have a robust middle class that supports our system. And those who squander their money, they aren't bailed out by the government like they are in India or Europe. Only the best can succeed here, and they do."



I wanted a second opinion, and I thought it would be enlightening to get it from another libertarian. In a Taipei restaurant, I met Dr. Kelly Wu, a senior fellow in the Freedom Institute. She was amazed that I visited the Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists and made it out in one piece. All I could tell her was that I made sure not to violate the Non-Aggression Principle by saying something too stupid.



"The Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists is the dictionary definition of hypocrisy," she began. "They are a state, and a totalitarian one at that. They have a monopoly on force, which they enforce brutally. It is a dictatorship which openly disdains the idea of democracy. They violate the Non-Aggression Principle daily. Not just in internal affairs, as I am sure you are well aware, but also in foreign relations. Voluntarist security forces will attack any country, so long as the FSV's shareholders demand it. And their security forces are nothing to be scoffed at, they are a legitimate military, complete with nuclear weapons that they use to threaten their neighbors. Or, as they would put it 'deter foreign violations of the Non-Aggression Principle.'"



What good would possessing a military do for the FSV's shareholders?



"The Federation of Sovereign Voluntarists is theoretically paid by the customers to whom it provides services. However, since it 'protects' the entire island of Luzon, its 'customers' are everyone in the country. Everyone is required to pay this fee, which sounds like-"



"A tax," I interjected. Dr. Wu smiled.



"Exactly. And there is no competition to the FSV. Anybody who tries to set up a competing 'national defense' firm is considered to be per se violating the Non-Aggression Principle, because competition in this field is considered to be a threat of a coup. For people who are so committed to fighting statism, the FSV are the worst abusers of statist rhetoric and injustice."