Fr Shay Cullen fears return of US base to Philippines

Aerial view of US Navy Naval Station Subic Bay, Philippines, 1990. Image public domain

Columban Missionary, Fr Shay Cullen writes: At Subic Bay, a planned United States factory where missiles and drones would be assembled and ammunitions produced, is feared to return Olongapo City to infamy as the sex-abuse capital of the Philippines.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution bans the presence of US military bases or installations on Philippine soil unless approved in a treaty between Manila and Washington - or any other nation, for that matter. That happened after an eight-year campaign to close the US bases and convert these into economic zones, one that this writer was instrumental in starting in 1983 with a dramatic news headline. This came about because of the campaign of the Preda Foundation to get justice for 12 children sexually abused by US serviceman Daniel Dougherty and other American child abusers. Dougherty was later found guilty in a US court-martial in Guam.

Preda's campaign created awareness and public pressure to free the hundreds of women and children enslaved in the Olongapo and Angeles City sex industry. They were held in sexual servitude by the chains of debt bondage to the bar and brothel owners.

The Olongapo City authorities then were very displeased with Preda's opposition to the sex industry and child sexual abuse by US sailors and others. For them it was normal. The authorities then announced a plan to close the Preda children's home. During a press conference, I was asked about that threat. "It would be better to close the US military bases and the bars, and convert them into economic zones," I replied. The journalist asked: "Is that the new Preda campaign for the future?" I thought about that and answered, "Yes, it is. You can publish that."

Headlines followed, announcing the campaign to close and convert the US bases into economic zones. Closing them was unthinkable at the time. I wrote columns about a six-point military base conversion proposal, and I was invited as a consultant to the bases conversion board headed by Jose Abueva.

Now, a monument stands in the shadow of a huge Philippine flag on the Subic Bay waterfront, just metres from the former command center of the US admiral. The monument celebrates the votes of the 12 senators that closed the US bases on September. 16, 1991, by rejecting a renewal of the treaty with the US for the retention of the Subic Bay naval station and Cubi Point naval air station.

The Subic Bay monument shows excerpts of the speeches and the 12 hands of the renewal-opposing senators. That was a proud day for the Philippines when it finally shook off the grip of a foreign power that once had a mighty colonial and military presence in the nation since 1898.

Dewey's victory

The US' occupation of the Philippines began with the invading forces of then-commodore George Dewey that defeated the Spanish fleet on Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. He was supposed to help the Philippine revolutionary army under Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo expel the Spaniards from the Philippines. But in a treacherous move, the US, a supposed ally, became the enemy and its forces fired on the Filipinos. That ignited the Filipino-American War that saw thousands of Filipinos massacred and hundreds of US Marines dying from bullet wounds and malaria. This led to the eventual capture of the Philippines and the establishment of the US as a colonial power. The US military bases were established and expanded greatly.

The monument is a reminder of the country's long struggle for sovereignty and freedom from the dominance of the US military and the sexual enslavement of women and children to meet the demands of US servicemen, accommodated by corrupt Filipino politicians who got rich from the exploitative enterprise. After 23 years of freedom from US military presence, then-president Benigno Aquino III had his defense chief sign the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) on April 28, 2014. This allowed the US military to pre-position troops and weapons inside existing Philippine bases or new ones created for the purpose of accommodating them.

In 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr expanded the number of Philippine military bases to nine that could be, in effect, taken over by the US military. These nine bases are or will be armed with missiles and drones to counter China's threat to invade nearby Taiwan. China has already taken over and occupied Philippine sovereign coastal waters and built bases on atolls and islands along the country's coastline with no effective deterrence from the US.

Now, the US is proposing to establish a factory in Subic Bay's former naval depot. There, the US will produce ammunition and assemble missiles and drones, or AMD. They are ready for hostilities with Beijing, thus making Subic Bay - and the Philippines - a prime target for any initial or retaliatory Chinese missile strike.

Tensions are rising in the South China Sea, and the real danger comes with the latest project - the AMD - to prepare for a US-China conflict. Politicians may make money, but the AMD threatens an economic meltdown as investors flee a possible war zone. Lost jobs will create a socioeconomic disaster for Filipinos.

Until that becomes reality, as it surely will, hundreds of US servicemen and civilians will be stationed at Subic Bay as the manufacturing plant grows. The servicemen will once again be seeking sexual pleasure, alcohol and drugs. Will local politicians welcome or resist a return to the child-abusing sex city of infamy that Olongapo once was? If there are enough Filipinos who live by the values of the Gospel, they can oppose the rise of such social evil and do good to protect the innocent.

Fr Shay is a Columban Missionary, who founded the Preda Foundation in 1974, which campaigns for children's rights; rescuing abused, neglected and trafficked children; and protecting, healing and empowering them in three residential facilities. Read more about his work here: www.preda.org