Campaign Against Human Rights Abuses
Source of Demand for Prostitution
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Olongapo City, the largest US Naval Base outside of mainland USA, provided Rest and Recreation to American servicemen and boomed during the Vietnam War when American personnel created a huge demand for prostitution. It was then that a venereal disease called Vietnam Rose was first heard of in Olongapo City after the Filipina bar girls contracted it from diseased servicemen. This was a form of Herpes we were told but it could have been a variety of the HIV Virus. |
A massive testing programme on the Olongapo prostitutes was begun by the US Navy to trace the AIDS virus. Hundreds were estimated to have been infected but no official figures were ever released.
Not surprisingly, the US Navy supplied equipments and medicines to the clinics run by the local government and enforced a biweekly vaginal smear before any permit was issued to a prostitute to engage in the business. Likewise a club was put 'off-limits' if it did not comply.
In this way the Base controlled the sex industry.
Racist Attitudes / Caucasian Envy
Military sex tourists had superior attitudes and treated the locals as inferiors and spread the notion that "White was Right". Filipinos were discriminated against in many ways especially in earnings for equal work. They were paid much lower.
Cultural Degradation and Loss of Filipino Dignity Through Sex Industry
The feeling of inferiority was being reinforced not only through a colonial educational system but also through the decadent local governmental policies of giving more privileges to the American sailors.
At an early age, children were taught that the Americans were superior and it was a privilege to work for them, so the youth aspired to that future. The more educated were able to leave Olongapo and make a better future, but the poor and unemployed worked in the commercial sex industry.
Most Filipino males flocked to the US Naval Base to submit their application for the US Navy. A parents' dream for their child was to enter the US Navy to earn dollars.
The Olongapo Administration, when faced with a base closure and an end to the sex industry, conducted massive rallies in the Senate to lobby for the retention of the US Naval Base saying that an economic dislocation would cripple the City. For them, economic development was not through dignified work with fair wages and benefits.
No Alternative Industry Other Than Sex Industry
There was no alternative industry, no factories to gradually end the dependence on the US Naval Base. Rather, the sex industry was expanded through mardi gras festivals, the October Festival, and other circus-like events to attract tourists and try to recreate the boom days during the Vietnam war.
Conrad Tiu, a local businessman, tried to promote a Free Port when the US Naval Base was here so that an economic dislocation would not cripple the City. The Administration of the City did not agree.
When the Americans were finally made to relinquish their hold on the Subic Naval Base, Olongapo was caught off guard because it did not prepare economically. The City Administration blamed the Senators who voted against the retention of the US Naval Base.
There was a period of shock and disbelief among many of the city residents that lasted for almost two years. Again there was no investment in the city. It was allowed to deteriorate and the rivers were not dredged. This caused massive flooding in May 1997
When the US Naval Base closed, the sex industry collapsed. A Diaspora ensued and most of the city's population looked for work elsewhere. They could not find it in Olongapo so they looked for it outside of Olongapo.
Local Government Lobbies for the Retention of the US Bases
The ruling political dynasty mobilized the people of Olongapo for a rally in front of the Senate in Manila. The local politicians wanted "ten more years for the American Base so we can prepare for its removal." Businessmen, bar owners and bar girls were bussed to Manila to lobby for the retention of the US Naval Base.
When the Senators voted against the bases, they were denounced in Olongapo.
Richard Gordon, descended from a US servicemen, was the Mayor then, his father and mother were mayors previously. His wife Catherine is presently mayor and his brother a Congressman. Many of the extended family hold top positions in government and businesses established inside the Free Port. His family dynasty has ruled Olongapo for decades and face legal charges and allegations of graft and corruption.
Here Richard Gordon is leading a parade of US Navy Officers in 1992. Gordon
advocates the return of the US Navy to the Philippines
Subic Bay, Military Bases - PREDA Alternative Plan 1986
Preda, because of the moral and social issues surrounding the existence
of the US Bases in the Philippines, like commercialization of the womenfolk
and children, a burgeoning sex industry, drug addiction due to broken homes
and destroyed families etc, lobbied for the abrogation of the US Bases in
the Philippines.
Preda fought against it not along political lines, but rather more along
moral and social concerns. To this end, Preda proposed a 6 point conversion
plan as an alternative for the US Bases. Part of the Preda six point alternative
plan for the conversion of the bases was a World University of the Environment
in the rain forest.
The plan was resisted and vetoed by the Gordon administration of the economic
zone which they converted into a free port.
Immunity For The US 7th Fleet in 1997
It is now a matter of Philippine Government policy to grant immunity from
all prosecution under Philippine law to US troops who visit the Philippines.
This was confirmed in a letter to the Preda Foundation by the US Department
of Defense.
This once again is to circumvent the stricter laws against women and child
abuse and a clear distrust and lack of confidence in the Philippine judicial
system. The immunity, which is to be extended still further for full diplomatic
immunity, is underway as of June 1997.
This is to pave the way for the return of the U.S. Navy to 22 ports and
airfields under a new agreement by which the US Forces can come for provisions
and rest and recreation.
This is being encouraged by Richard Gordon in Olongapo City, he was once
their enthusiastic host around what was called then Brothel City. This is
a return to the past, where the abuse of women and children was rampant
and the colonial mind set was sown in the Filipino psyche.
They were persuaded to believe that white was right and child sex was OK
because the local officials sanctioned it by doing nothing about it and
the military likewise. They succeeded to cover it up for years.
The locals let it happen, without awareness perhaps, because they were taught
it was right because the Americans did it. Today there is a serious loss
of morality and the number of child abuse cases are very high.
The erosion of moral conscience, especially among the political elite is
a major cause of the spreading problem. Relatives and cronies of the leading
political family are charged with sexually abusing children.