The return of the US military to the Philippines

“The long street was lined with sex bars that began right outside the gate of the US Navy Base. The nightclub strip called Magsaysay Drive was blazing with neon lights. Loud bands were pounding out rock ‘n’ roll from bars and clubs on the strip. The Beatles hit ‘Get Back’ was vying with The Rolling Stones’ ‘Honky Tonk Woman’ and ‘Judy in Disguise’ by the Playboy Band. The street was thronged with American sailors, all bar hopping, leading girls to a cheap hotel or carrying the small little ones in their arms like children. Many of the girls seemed to be no more than fifteen or sixteen.”

The sailors were tall, muscular and macho, dressed in bulging T-shirts and gym shorts. They walked about as if they owned the place, shouting obscenities to each other, waving beer bottles, grabbing the girls that stood in the doorways of the sex bars and clubs. Welcome signs and banners greeted these high-paying customers. “Welcome USS Enterprise,” said one.

At the doors of the sex clubs, under the flickering neon lights, the older women disguised their hard life of exploitation and abuse behind masks of heavy makeup, artificial eyelashes and mascara highlighted by red burnished cheeks. They lounged in sexually provocative poses. Beside them were their young trainees, looking as young as 16 and on offer to the highest paying customer.

“Hi Joe, wanna good time, Joe, come on in, I give you special job, Joe!” they would call out. Every male foreigner was called Joe, as in GI Joe. “You want a cherry girl?” — that’s what they would call a virgin. The customer would pay a very high price for a genuine cherry girl. Most were underage girls.

This author exposed the child sexual abuse by US navy personnel and Filipino pedophiles. The youngest victim was only 9 years old, one of 18 children, and likely many more who were discovered suffering from venereal diseases. The exposé kicked off a campaign to close the Subic base and convert it into an economic zone. It was successful. The Senate voted to close the base. The last ship there left in 1992.

Now, after 32 years, the US bases are back in the country. They are ensconced inside nine of our military bases. There is big trouble brewing in the South China Sea, but it is all about money, power and pride over Taiwan. Trade is at the heart of the confrontation with China. In 2022, US trade with Asia totaled an estimated $520 billion. US exports to Asia reached $160 billion, while US imports from Asia hit $360 billion. As a result, Southeast Asia has grown in greater importance in recent years.

That same year, US exports to Taiwan made up 1.8 percent of all US exports, while 2.6 percent of US imports came from Taiwan. The US wants to keep Taiwan as a trading partner and prevent China from invading and capturing the production sites, especially for electronics and chip manufacturing, as it is threatening to do. Hence, the military buildup in the Philippines acts as a deterrent. If it comes to a missile war, the unfortunate Filipino civilians will be killed, just like how civilians are dying in Gaza. They would be expendable.

Will the evils of the sex industry reappear around the new US bases inside the Philippine Army bases? If so, that will likely lead to moral outrage again and surely allow history to repeat itself.