22 years later, U.S. welcomed back
former colonial power was high, but never so high that the lineup for immigrants’ visas outside the U.S. embassy was smaller than the crowds that gathered daily only a few metres away to denounce U.S. imperialism.
Other than the endless demonstrations, my signature memory of the days before U.S. forces left was the astonishing, surprise breach of a U.S. navy attack submarine in Subic Bay.
Typhoon Haiyan and the dramatic U.S. response is likely to accelerate moves already underway to resurrect military ties between the two old allies.
After unexpectedly caving in to demands by a relatively small but extremely vocal minority to not renew the U.S. lease, the Philippine government suddenly reversed itself after Mount Pinatubo erupted, spewing a spectacular coat of volcanic dust on top of Clark and Subic. Manila begged the American sailors and airmen to stay. But it was too late. Tired of the hassle and with conflicts brewing in the Middle East, the U.S. packed up and left.
Given the subsequent rise of China and this country’s proven inability to care for its 90 million citizens when typhoons, volcanoes or earthquakes strike — as they do here with alarming regularity — the departure of U.S. forces from the Philippines was a colossal blunder by both sides. It severed deep bonds developed when Americans and Filipinos fought side-by-side to end Imperial Japan’s brutal occupation of the archipelago during the Second World War.
What the U.S. air force lost in 1991 was Clark Air Base, which had F-4 Phantom fighter jets and was a major logistical hub. With a permanent population as high as 15,000 air force personnel and dependents, the small American city was the U.S. military’s biggest overseas base. A short time later the U.S. navy quit its biggest foreign base, too. Nearby Subic Bay not only had the deepest, safest anchorage in Asia but a fine airport, as well. One of the consequences of leaving was that it cost the navy thousands of treasured Filipino shipyard workers whose expertise kept the fleet afloat at a reasonable cost.
When the Yanks left so did tens of billions of U.S. dollars in direct and indirect spending that had played a crucial role in propping up the feeble Philippine economy.
Typhoon Haiyan and the dramatic U.S. response is likely to accelerate moves already underway to resurrect military ties between the two old allies. With China sporadically bullying countries across eastern Asia, U.S. Marines have recently become an increasing presence at Clark Air Base and at joint military exercises. U.S. army Special Forces commandos have a base in the south of the country where they train Filipino troops to fight an often bloody Islamic insurgency.
Serious negotiations began months ago to give U.S. forces greater access to their old haunts at Clark and Subic, which have fallen into disrepair. U.S. defence aid to the Philippines was tripled a few months ago to $30 million a year. There is talk of a joint Filipino-U.S. base on or near the Spratly Islands. The Chinese coast guard appeared from nowhere in those waters a couple of years ago and now sails around there with impunity.
Filipinos are paying a terrible price for typhoon Haiyan. But the catastrophe may eventually produce a silver lining.