Bases conversion: Vision is there, but…

(Second of three parts)

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The conversion of US military bases in Central Luzon began with cleaning these of Mt. Pinatubo’s debris and with former President Fidel Ramos signing proclamations that provided the legal basis for programs proposed in the University of the Philippines’ baselands study.

These programs centered mainly on Subic becoming a “maritime industrial complex” and Clark a “civil aviation complex.”

Minus an easy start, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority appeared to have measured up to its chief mandate, which is to raise money to fund the conversion program.

It generated P51.021 billion from the sale of portions of military camps in Metro Manila from 1993 to 2011. By law, 27.5 percent of proceeds should be used to develop Subic, Clark and their extensions.

Bases conversion bodies have stuck to the major plans outlined in the UP study, despite delays due to lack of funds, policy inconsistencies and opposition by interest groups.

Clark became a civil aviation complex, with facilities for handling cargo, maintenance and repair and catering.

“Competing [government] priorities” are getting in the way of Clark airport’s full takeoff, said Jose de Jesus, former transportation and communication secretary. “It’s an asset that is not yet fully utilized,” he said.

Rene Romero, one of the last US maintenance contractors in Clark, said more opportunities have been opened to local businesses in the last 20 years than when the Americans ran Clark.

“Back then, we only had the US Air Force as locator. Now we have hundreds. We’re better off now, without the bases,” says Romero.

Former Olongapo City Mayor Richard Gordon, founding chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, said the former US naval base is still far from realizing its potential to become another transshipment hub like Hong Kong or Singapore.

“On the one hand, what we wanted to do, we were able to do in spite of the disaster of Pinatubo and no adequate preparation for the withdrawal of the bases,” he said.

“We provided the vision—Subic had to be a freeport—and we also wanted to compete with Hong Kong and Singapore. That did not happen because certain interests in the national government, and the private sector interfered with [the development of that vision],” he said.

He said Subic’s development was fueled by volunteerism, which prevented it from being looted like Clark. He said what was accomplished in Subic “speaks for itself.”

“Domestically, that’s already good … But we are not competing with Hong Kong or Singapore. Instead Subic became a maritime center due to Hanjin’s shipyard,” he said.

Olongapo Mayor James Gordon Jr. said areas surrounding Subic have survived without US military presence. “We have moved on. We didn’t go backwards, and we are still going forward,” he said.

But former Sen. Wigberto Tañada said the outcome of the conversion is not totally favorable to Filipinos.

Workers and farmers, for one, need to get better terms, he said.

The presence of American troops and their use of camps in Mindanao, purportedly to help the Philippines in its war on terror, are unjustified and are an affront to the 1987 Constitution, he said.

He asked activists in Central Luzon to not waver in their campaign to abolish the Mutual Defense Treaty, Mutual Logistics Servicing Agreement and Visiting Forces Agreement.

For Tañada, 77, the colonial relationship between the Philippines and the US continues even without the bases.

Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan does not want the US military to reuse Clark and Subic. “We Filipinos did well in bases conversion. Mix use [military-economic] is not good for business,” he said.

(Tomorrow: Problems bog down US bases conversion)