THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160346
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 169 lines
Intimate or distant, placid or stormy, the story of the Philippines' relationship with the United States is a microcosm of post-Cold War international relations.
A new chapter in the story is now being written, and this is the theme: Military might surrenders to the marketplace.
U.S. military involvement in the Philippines, which spanned nearly a century, is over. In its place is a nascent relationship of trading partners who, if not exactly co-equals, have come a long way from their master-and-serf roles in the heyday of American colonialism.
While there is still some nostalgia for the past, the two nations know they have turned a corner. There is an emerging consensus that once the dust clears from the rather sudden U.S. military pullout, the Philippines may end up better off.
``In sum, there is life after the bases for us in the Philippines,'' said Raul Ch. Rabe, the Philippines' ambassador to the United States, who is scheduled to address the World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads tonight in Norfolk.
His view is shared by a U.S. State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``Our presence there fostered a sort of continuing colonial mentality,'' he said. ``Now the Philippines has to stand on its own two feet if it's going to get along in the world.''
For better or worse, American interests have been intertwined with the South Pacific island nation since 1898. The relationship is readily apparent in Hampton Roads, which today has a community of some 20,000 Filipino-Americans.
It all started during the Spanish-American War, when Commodore George Dewey sank the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and the United States took over the colony from Spain. After defending the Philippines against Japan in some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II, the U.S. granted the colony its independence in 1946.
But the U.S. military remained on the islands for almost another half-century. Two of the 20 installations there, Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base, were among the largest U.S. bases in the world.
The Philippine bases were the linchpin of the U.S. ``security umbrella'' in the Far East and Southeast Asia during the Cold War. Later, most of the supplies used by U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf War came from Subic.
The U.S. military presence gradually emerged as one of the most divisive issues in Philippine politics. Although surveys showed that most Filipinos approved of the bases, a small but influential minority considered them an infringement on national sovereignty.
Finally, in June 1991, a shove from Mother Nature helped bring the issue to a head. The Mount Pinatubo volcano erupted, burying much of Clark Air Base in ash and causing major damage. Rather than undertake a costly rebuilding effort in an uncertain political climate, the U.S. decided to close it.
Later that year, the Philippine Senate rejected a lease extension for Subic, and the United States was given a year to withdraw its forces. In November 1992 the last Americans pulled out, leaving the Philippines free of foreign troops for the first time since Spanish explorers landed on the islands in 1543.
The abandonment of the two huge bases - each of which accounted for about 20,000 military personnel, civilian employees and dependents - has had a substantial economic impact.
The Subic base alone, at its peak, was home to eight major Navy commands and 35 smaller units and detachments. It had 7,000 U.S. military personnel and civilian workers, more than 16,000 Filipino employees and 13,000 Filipino contract workers.
Altogether, the U.S. pullout has resulted in the loss of an estimated 70,000 Filipino jobs and about $1 billion a year in salaries, U.S. aid, procurement of supplies, and spending by service members and their families.
But in the short time since U.S. forces departed, the area has begun to bounce back.
Subic is now well on its way to becoming an international free port. So far, businesses locating there have generated 15,000 jobs. Later this year, Federal Express plans to open a major facility there - a hub for the private mail carrier's Asian operations - that will bring a large influx of jobs.
Clark has been declared the site of a new international airport for the Philippines. Some companies have located there, and a major resort developer is turning part of the residential area of the former base into a resort with a 27-hole golf course and convention center.
In short, the Philippines is quickly recovering from the economic hit of the U.S. pullout. ``We feel we have more than made up for it already,'' Ambassador Rabe said. ``The economy has already absorbed the loss and is growing. It seems we will be generating many more jobs than the U.S. Navy ever generated. . . .
``We lost the U.S. Navy, but we got back a very valuable asset.''
The title of Rabe's address in Norfolk, home of the world's largest naval complex, is ``Philippine-American Relations After the Bases.''
Even without the U.S. military presence, relations between the two nations remain strong, Rabe said, largely because of the historical ties and the interchange of people. Almost 2 million Filipino-Americans live in the United States and close to 100,000 U.S. citizens live in the Philippines.
Perhaps most important today, Rabe said, are the economic ties - ``the nitty-gritty side of it.''
``The United States is our largest trading partner, a major source of investments and technology, and a major source of tourists and foreign exchange,'' he said.
Even so, as the Philippines takes its place in the evolving new world economy, Rabe doesn't expect U.S. companies to remain the dominant force there. They will be outmuscled, he predicts, by his country's hard-charging Pacific Rim trading partners, notably the Taiwanese, Koreans and Japanese.
As the balance of economic power shifts, Rabe senses a further U.S. disengagement from the region in the political winds - in part because of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the new Republican Congress.
``The United States seems to be growing inward,'' he said. ``There is a lot of talk about focusing on domestic issues, cutting back on foreign aid.''
The State Department official sought to offer reassurance on that point.
``The opinions he's expressing are not uncommon,'' he said. ``A lot of foreign diplomats see what the new speaker of the House is saying or what Jesse Helms is saying, and they get worried.''
The concern is particularly acute in the Philippines, he said, because the country depended on U.S. military protection for nearly a century.
``With our somewhat precipitous withdrawal, they found themselves on their own, with the weakest and most poorly outfitted military in the region. But we reassure them on a regular basis that we are remaining engaged.''
The two nations still have a mutual defense treaty, and most of the U.S. troops who had been deployed in the Philippines have been moved to other bases in the Pacific, mainly Singapore, Japan, Guam and Australia.
The base at Subic was a major operations center for the Navy's 7th Fleet. The logistics part of its mission has been moved to Singapore, and the ship-repair work that was done at the shipyard there has been redirected to Navy yards in the United States.
The U.S. and Philippine navies still work together, just from a greater distance.
``We are treaty allies,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Beci Brenton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu. ``We do ship visits, we conduct joint exercises, we stand ready to conduct humanitarian and rescue missions if they ask us. Our military-to-military relationship with the Philippines is very strong and longstanding.''
Ultimately, though, the Philippines' best hope for security lies in its growing economic strength, the State Department official said.
``Last year they had 5.1 percent real growth in GNP, and it seems they'll be able to sustain it in the future. There is still poverty, but they're building their industrial and export base. . . . ''
Ill will that followed the base closings has dissipated among the military and State Department, he said.
``In the long run, ironically, I think the Philippines will end up better off without us.''
Echoing that sentiment was Azucena B. Bautista, a political science professor at Norfolk State University who was born in the Philippines.
``The fact that the bases are no longer there . . . brought some bad feelings, particularly on the part of immigrant people here,'' she said. ``Many have asked me why the Filipino people didn't want the United States there anymore. . . .
``(But) I think those bases have been a sore point in U.S.-Philippine relations. Now that they're gone, the Philippines will see itself as more of an equal partner with the American people. Ultimately, it may be a much stronger relationship.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Photo
Raul Ch. Rabe will address the World Affairs Council tonight.
Tickets are no longer available.
Map
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE
Philippines: Base closings unlikely to hurt it
September 1990: A rockier time for U.S.-Philippine relations. In
Manila, 500 leftist students gathered to burn an American flag near
the U.S. Embassy, protesting the presence of U.S. military bases in
their country.
KEYWORDS: ECONOMY PHILIPPINES by CNB