Subic Bay History
CHAPTER
EIGHT
SUBIC BAY TODAY
On June 15, 1991, Mount Pinatubo, just 20 miles from Subic Bay exploded with a force 8 times greater than the Mount St. Helens eruption. Day turned to night as volcanic ash blotted out the sun. Volcanic earthquakes and heavy rain, lightning and thunder from a typhoon passing over northern Luzon made Black Saturday a 36-hour nightmare.
By Sunday morning, when the volcano's fury subsided, Subic Bay, once one the most beautiful, well-maintained Navy bases in the Pacific, lay buried under a foot of the rain-soaked, sandy ash.
The devastation was awesome. Buildings everywhere collapsed under the weight of the coarse gray ash. Miraculously, 100 people stepping on the floor of the China Seas Club escaped injury when that building collapsed. Tragically, two girls, one a nine year old American girl and the other a Filipino citizen, had died when trapped under a falling roof at George Dewey High School. In the city of Olongapo, more than 60 volcano-related deaths were reported, including 8 who were crushed when part of Olongapo General Hospital-collapsed.
By Sunday night, the threat of continued eruptions combined with the lack of water and electricity, led to the decision to evacuate all dependents. U.S. warships and cargo planes began the emergency evacuation of thousands of Navy and Air Force dependents. Seven Navy ships sailed Monday, June 17, with 6,200 dependents. A total of 17 ships, including aircraft carriers, USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Midway evacuated all 20,000 dependents over the next few days. The evacuees were taken by ship to the Philippine island of Cebu and then were airlifted by U.S. Air Force C-141 to Guam.
After the dependents were evacuated, an intense clean-up was begun. All hands, American servicemen and women and Filipino base employees, worked around the clock to restore essential services.
Clark Air Base, much closer to Mount Pinatubo, was declared a total loss and plans for a complete closure were started.,
Subic fared better. Within two weeks Nas Cubi Point was back in limited operation. Soon most building had electricity and water service restored. By mid-July service had been restored to most family housing units.
The dependents began returning September 8, 1991 and by the end of the month almost all were back at Subic Bay from their Safe Haven in the United States.
September, 1991, was a historic month for the station for another reason. The Military Bases Agreement of 1947 expired on September 16th. Months of intense negotiations between the Philippine and U.S. governments had taken place and had resulted in the Treaty of Friendship, Peace and Cooperation.
The Philippine Senate voted on the Treaty on September 13, 1991, and voted for rejection. The Senators cited a number of reasons for the rejection but most centered on throwing off the "last vestige of American colonialism", Subic Bay Naval Station -
The Aquino administration was strongly pro-treaty and called for a referendum by the Philippine people, a move the 4nti-bases forces declared unconstitutional.
During the first week of October, a compromise was reached - the U.S. would have 3 years to withdraw from the naval base.
In the meantime, the Subic Bay continues its service to the Fleet as it has for the past century.
Source: SUBIC BAY From Magellan to Mt. Pinatubo; by: Gerald R. Anderson; pp. 96-97
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