Ten years after U.S. military pullout,
Filipinos debating economic effects
By Kendra Helmer and Carlos Bongioanni, Stars and Stripes
Carlos Bongioanni / Stars and Stripes
The former U.S. naval base at Subic Bay is now an economic freeport. More than 30,000
Filipinos work for civilian businesses that have set up shop there. |
SUBIC BAY, Philippines — When the U.S. military rolled up its sidewalks and left
the Philippines 10 years ago, the local economy was struggling, but at least independent.
Critics spoke of economic doom. Mount Pinatubo had deposited an ashen blanket of
destruction that smothered many sectors of the islands’ economy. The U.S. government,
unable to negotiate the Visiting Forces Agreement it wanted, closed up shop.
Almost.
Joint training exercises between the United States and host country Philippines have
increased in the past few years, infusing millions of dollars into the local economy. In
2001, the U.S. government plans to conduct 18 scheduled and many unscheduled training
exercises on Philippine soil. Now a Pentagon-sponsored study released earlier this month
calls for an even heavier military training schedule in the Philippines.
Kendra Helmer / Stars and Stripes
The paint peels off a sign declaring "Nobody did it better" at what was the
Naval Supply Depot at Subic Bay Naval Base, now an economic zone. |
"From an economic point of view, I think having more American military activity
… will help bring some additional economic activity to the Philippines," said
Robert Blume, an investment promotion manager with the American Chamber of Commerce of the
Philippines. "Whether or not the local consensus of opinion would be in favor of it,
it’s a very delicate thing."
When U.S. troops trained this month for two weeks of bilateral exercises — called
Balikatan 2001 — communities around Clark Field received an infusion of $3 million
into their economies, said a Philippine government official who asked to not be
identified.
"When you have 150 million pesos being circulated in just two weeks, it may have
boosted the local hotel industry, the local entertainment industry, the local merchants
and local services sector," he said.
"But it’s just a bonus. It’s not a matter of life."
While $3 million might make a spot difference, it has lesser economic impact on the 75
million Filipinos nationwide, said Philippines research analyst Jerry Finin of the
East-West Center, a Honolulu-based research and educational institute that deals with the
Asia-Pacific community.
Economic changes
Carlos Bongioanni / Stars and
Stripes
Outside the former Clark Air Base, most businesses along Fields Ave. in Angeles City
welcome a U.S. military presence in the Philippines. The busy thoroughfare, which runs
along the perimeter of Clark, is famous for its entertainment district full of go-go clubs
that have seen a major decline in business since the base's closure in 1992. |
The closure of Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base was "an economic bonus for
us," said Angelo Lopez, a spokesman for the Clark Development Corp., which took over
the air base after it closed in 1992.
Today, Clark is home to 288 businesses or projects within an "economic zone,"
Lopez said. Clark employs 21,000 Filipinos — a thousand more than the peak number of
Filipinos who worked for the base during the U.S. presence, Lopez said.
"The transformation of the bases into special economic zones did some good things
for the economy," said Miguel B. Varela, president of the Philippine Chamber of
Commerce and Industry.
Subic is particularly lucrative for investment, nationally and internationally.
Developers promoting the area, Varela said, have attracted several foreign companies to
set up shop.
But many Filipinos don’t benefit from those investments. As of 1997, 32 percent of
the population lived below the poverty line, according to the CIA’s World Fact Book
Web site. In 1998, the Asian financial crisis and bad weather took their toll on the
country. Analysts said it slowly is recovering.
Kendra Helmer / Stars and Stripes
A man leads a water buffalo next to a street on the former Clark Air Base. |
The presence of U.S. bases prior to 1992 did have an impact on the national economy,
"but the Filipinos were hardly catapulted into an economic collapse afterwards,"
said Catharin Dalpino of the Brookings Institute’s Center for Northeast Asian Policy
Studies.
"For years, people made the argument that if the U.S. bases left, the
Philippines’ economy would collapse," Finin said. "Well, that’s proven
untrue. Although they’re still facing challenges, it can be said, with little room
for debate, that without the U.S. bases, the Philippines’ economy can survive.
"It hasn’t been thriving, but it’s held its own."
Whether the economy is better or worse since the bases closed is a matter of opinion,
Blume said.
Kendra Helmer / Stars and Stripes
A floral replica jet is the centerpiece at a mini golf course on the former Subic Bay
Naval Base. |
"If you look at it from my eyes, it’s sad to see the places," he said.
"Every time I go to Subic, the way things operate inside the base are looking more
and more like they do outside the base. Signs are falling down, paint is peeling, the
roads have holes. When I was in the Navy, it was very orderly and there was the hustle and
bustle of military people moving around. Now there are just a couple of derelict ships
sitting around."
Varela called the economy "not perfect, but the potential is there."
"It depends on political scenario," he said. As facilities increase and
improve, such as an international airport and accessibility to business around Asia, more
investors are attracted.
"There is no direct link between what is happening now, as far as economic
development is concerned, and the presence of the American military," Varela said.
Base pullout
Kendra Helmer / Stars and Stripes
Jing Mallari fishes at the former Subic Bay Naval Base. |
More than 30,000 people work at the former naval base, including Bourney Eluna, 28,
from nearby Olongapo. Although he is grateful for his job as a lifeguard, making 7,000
pesos ($140) a month, Eluna said he would prefer working for the U.S. military because
Americans pay more.
Eluna was one of 8,000 volunteers who worked without pay at Subic the first two years
after the Navy pulled out. They volunteered, Eluna said, because Subic authorities
promised them first dibs at jobs as the base was converted to an economic zone.
"We maintained the grounds, cut grass, cleaned the houses and guarded the base so
people didn’t steal anything," Eluna said. "We didn’t want what
happened at Clark to happen here."
Kendra Helmer / Stars and Stripes
Beaches once closed to non-servicemembers are now open to all, for a small fee, at the
former Subic Bay Naval Base. |
At Clark, residents from nearby communities pilfered what was left behind after the
military pullout. Buildings were gutted of furniture and appliances; roofs were laid bare
as people tore off the tiling and hauled it over the base fences.
The pillaging, though, was a minor hurdle Clark authorities faced after the military
pullout. The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo proved much worse. Five to 6 inches of
volcanic ash fell on the base. When the monsoon season hit, torrential rains brought 2
feet of mud.
"Nobody thought we would recover. In some places, the mud from the rivers went up
past the knees," Lopez said. It took years to clean up the mess at Clark.
Subsequently, Clark had a harder time building up its economic zone.
"Subic wasn’t hit so hard," Lopez said. "They had little to
repair."
Loss of U.S. income
Carlos Bongioanni / Stars and Stripes
Basket and handcraft vendor Esmeralda Vite makes a sale to U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jamison
Yi. |
The 20,000 Filipinos whom Clark Air Base employed don’t include thousands who
benefited tangentially. An estimated 300,000 Filipinos — base workers, landlords,
yard boys, house girls, off-base vendors and shop owners — lost work when the bases
closed.
Esmeralda Vite used to make a decent living selling baskets. Since the bases closed,
her sales revenues have plummeted.
"It’s as if you went to sleep, and you had a bad dream," Vite said.
"The next morning you wake up and find out the nightmare is real."
Vite, 48, answers the economic malaise this way: Let the Americans come back, she said.
"We can’t live without them."
Vite cautions other nations that consider a lesser American presence. "They better
think it over," Vite said, shaking her head in disbelief over Okinawans who want the
U.S. military to leave their prefecture.
Before the air base closed, she employed 80 people at her basket factory that operated
around the clock in Angeles City, which borders Clark. Now, a handful of employees work
limited hours being careful that their production does not excessively outpace
consumption.
“The Americans are
the number one patronizers of our handicrafts,” says Corazon Realoza, a vendor from
Angeles City. |
"The Americans are the No. 1 patronizers of our handicrafts," said Corazon
Realoza, another vendor from Angeles City. "Here in the Philippines, it’s not
easy selling our products. Most Filipinos are poor. They’ll buy rice before
they’ll buy handicrafts."
Realoza, 50, shared an outdoor booth with Vite at Clark Field during Balikatan, which
brought 3,000 U.S. troops to the Philippines in April and May. The vendors said they keep
a constant vigil to find out when and where the Americans will be training in the
Philippines.
Wearing an "I survived Pinatubo" T-shirt, Realoza said vendors make
sacrifices to do business with Americans. Many will make a two-day car journey to where
Americans are training.
Though business was relatively slow during Balikatan, both vendors said they were happy
to get 10 or so customers each day. The $40 that Realoza made on a sale to a U.S. Marine
would buy enough food to feed a family of six for a month, she said.
At Subic recently, Saddul Jalmania roamed the beach, looking for customers. The
seashell jewelry vendor moved to Subic Bay in 1968 after a three-day boat ride from her
hometown in the southern Philippines to make money for her family.
"When the Americans were here, no vendors were allowed on base, but I sold many
things to Americans outside the gates," said the Muslim woman. A few days before
Mount Pinatubo erupted, her husband died of cancer. Then the Americans left.
"We miss the
Americans," says Julio Carbungco. |
"When Americans were here, I made much more money than now," she said.
"I miss the Americans so much — they were kind and giving."
Many Filipinos have similar stories.
Julio Carbungco, 35, made a comfortable living driving Jeepneys, colorful vehicles
fashioned from surplus U.S. military jeeps.
After the bases closed, Carbungco found work driving tourists in cars owned by a
wealthy family. He makes about $10 for a 12-hour day’s work, during which he often is
stuck in traffic, listening to Chicago or "Staying Alive," while horns blare all
around him.
"There were many more job opportunities when the bases were here," Carbungco
said, echoing the sentiment of several other Jeepney and taxi drivers who say: "We
miss the Americans."
‘We’re growing up’
Melissa Malacas is a
volunteer tour guide at Subic Bay. |
Not everyone is as nostalgic.
"If you ask the businessmen, they’ll tell you it’s better now than it
was before," said Romeo Nuqui, an Angeles City resident. Nuqui, 45, owns a tire and
auto shop and leases six vehicles.
"It was so good when the Americans left, because before, we were being controlled.
"We’re growing up. Let us solve our own problems."
Nuqui moved to Saudi Arabia, where he "sacrificed" 15 years working as an
electrician in the king’s palace in Saudi Arabia. His wife, Lourdes, spent 10 years
there. For six years, they were apart from their eldest daughter, who stayed with an aunt
in the Philippines.
He said he looked abroad for work because there were no job opportunities in the
Philippines. The Saudis paid far more than he could earn at home. The Philippines’
Department of Foreign Affairs said 800,000 Filipinos currently work in Saudi Arabia.
An estimated 7.5 million Filipinos are working in foreign countries, according to the
Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs. That number includes documented and
undocumented Filipinos working abroad legally and illegally. It also includes an
undisclosed number of Filipinas working in the hospitality-entertainment industry.
Carlos Bongioanni / Stars and Stripes
A relic of the colonial period, the Spanish Gate still stands at the former Subic Bay U.S.
Naval Base as a testimony to Spain's former presence in the Philippines. |
Melissa Malacas hasn’t seen her mother for five years. Her mother, Auring, moved
to Greece after her husband died when Melissa was 17. Melissa is studying psychology and
is eager to see her mother, who can’t afford a plane ticket to the Philippines for a
visit.
"My mother will stay there to save money," said Melissa, a volunteer tour
guide at Subic Bay.
It’s difficult for Melissa to talk about her separation from her mother,
describing her life as "very lonely."
"I adore her for her patience. She will come back," she said, tears welling
up in her eyes. "I know she will."
Many Philippine parents leave the country because of "their love for their
children," Melissa said. "They want to save money abroad to send their children
to school."
‘I miss the Americans’
Carlos Bongioanni / Stars and Stripes
“The Americans gave us a good salary," says Monico Dimain, 50, a jungle survival
training instructor who gives a demonstration to visitors at the former Subic Bay naval
base. |
Monico Dimain misses seeing Americans at Subic Bay. When the base was open, he taught
jungle survival training to Marines, SEALs and other servicemembers. Now he teaches his
craft to tourists at the Jungle Environmental Survival Training camp. One demonstration
teaches tourists how to make cooking utensils and even a "disposable rice
cooker" from bamboo.
The demonstrations are in huts, on a hill overlooking the bay. Nearby are jewelry
vendors, a seemingly out-of-place butterfly garden and a mini-zoo in which animals pace in
their cramped cages.
Dimain, 50, in a heavy accent, speaks fondly of what he calls "American
time," recalling annual Christmas parties the servicemembers had, when Dimain brought
his family on base.
The Americans loved the Filipinos and "had big hearts," Dimain said.
"Americans saved my life," he said. "When I got sick, I needed
gallbladder surgery, right before Pinatubo (erupted). They took me to a military hospital.
I was poor and had no money for surgery. A Marine paid for my surgery.
"The Americans gave us a good salary. Not anymore. I miss the Americans. They were
good to me."
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