In former US bases, no gov’t rites for historic Senate vote

CLARK FREEPORT—No state event commemorated the Senate’s historic rejection of the extension of the 1947 Military Bases Agreement between the Philippines and the United States on Sept. 16, 1991.

That day, a Tuesday, passed with no flag waving or eloquent discussions about the decision that closed down the American military bases, which were relinquished finally to Filipino administrators.

Only a monument recalls that fateful day in Subic—the statues of the “Magnificent 12” or the 12 senators who voted 23 years ago against extending the American bases for 10 more years.

Sept. 16 had been treated like any ordinary day, but “it shouldn’t be,” said Max Sangil, a councilor and former vice mayor of Angeles City just outside Clark.

Sangil said the “No” votes cast by the 12 senators allowed the government to regain control over more than 100,000 hectares of land in Clark in Pampanga and Tarlac, Subic in Bataan and Zambales, Poro Point in La Union, and Camp John Hay in Baguio City.

Former Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III said Sept. 16 “deserves to be an occasion of national pride.”

“The struggle to get the US bases and US troops out was about our nation’s freedom and sovereignty from an unequal relation,” Tañada said, crediting not only the senators for this triumph but also the activist community.

Sept. 16 is also dear to the former lawmaker for very personal reasons. His grandfather, Sen. Lorenzo Tañada, was born in 1898 when the Philippines declared independence from Spain.

The elder Tañada, at 93, proceeded in a wheelchair to the Senate on Sept. 16, 1991, postponing his dialysis treatments to be able to witness the historic voting.

His son and Erin’s father, Sen. Wigberto Tañada, was among those who struck down the extension of the treaty.

Sangil said the meaning of the day would be more appreciated by adding a local context: the devastation wrought by the June 1991 eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo contributed to the looming closure of the bases.

“You’ll really have to salute the grit of local folk to rise from this double whammy,” Sangil said.

The conversion of Clark and Subic into economic hubs gives more reasons for a Sept. 16 thanksgiving, he said.

Sangil served as director in the boards of Clark Development Corp. and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the agency charged with overseeing all former American base lands.

About 400 Clark-based companies have in their employ nearly 80,000 workers, more than double the 20,000 to 30,000 Filipinos working at the air base before 1991.

At Subic Bay Freeport, employment stands at more than 100,000, triple than when it was a naval base until 1992.

On account of this employment rate, the former bases remained underutilized, Sangil said.

When asked about the military reuse of Clark and Subic for the Visiting Forces Agreement, which was signed in 1999, and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca), which was signed this year, Sangil growled, “Over my dead body.”

Erin said he had reservations about the Edca. He said communities affected by the Edca were never consulted about issues that still haunt the former base lands: Access and control over lands and criminal jurisdiction over erring soldiers. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon