Posted on 06/08/2012 10:36:57 PM PDT by LibWhacker
With the U.S. moving the majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific, commanders are eagerly looking for invitations to park the planes and ships that will be pouring into the region.
Travis Tritten at Stars and Stripes reports that the Pentagon has apparently been fanning the old flame of friendship with the Philippines and will be re-opening two bases it left in 1991 — Subic Bay and Clark Air Base.
The U.S. had a falling out with the island nation in the early nineties and pulled out of the bases, which were then built-up by a series of private developers and builders. How useful what's left is a matter of debate, but the locations used to be major centers of operation for American forces in the Pacific.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Have you heard of this?....my wife’s family sure has told of the Chinese money invasion.
Lumpia?
I love lumpia, and all those folks at Subic ...BEST PLACE (next to Texas)
Fried Rice with over easy eggs on top...
VP Alley
TT
“My retirement plans may have just changed”
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Sure, come on over...Great living, provided you have the right
attitude, and stay away from Manila or Cebu city.
I would never even land at Manila.... rated the worst airport in the world.
All of my flights are in or out of Cebu city’s Mactan, another former US airfield
By the way, Clark is now a commercial airport, served by AirAsia, and others.
Some places are cooler, weather-wise, than others, right?
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And wherewithal is wasted on the old. Cripes! |
While it may have been monkey meat, as I recall, there weren't many cats or dogs running around in Ologapo. The street vendors would only say "Baaaaar - B -Q!", never specifying barbequed what. :=)
Yeah we are screwed... coming and going ... we cannot win
TT
“I thought we pulled out of Clark because Mt. Pinatubo erupted and destroyed the place.”
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I think it was a case of the Philippines getting a bit snotty
about US military presence.
Clark is now a free trade zone, and only 40 km from Manila.
http://www.visitclark.com/
“Some places are cooler, weather-wise, than others, right?”
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Well, yes, if you want cool, you live on a mountain.
I live on a beach, but 3100 foot Osmena peak is part of my municipality, Dalaguete, Cebu.
There are also mountain cities up on Luzon, but I have no desire to live in that part of the Philippines.
Does it cost a lot to run air conditioning?
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It's fun trying though :) |
Take it from a retiree living in the Philippines, (since 2001), there will be no PX or Navy Exchange. The Clark Field is now populated with many international corporations and a new civilian hospital was just built there. There is even a major mall there.
The same is true for Subic. There are major international corporations there, a commercial shipping port and a new hospital also. Subic is a FreePort now.
The plan, as stated in the local newspapers, is that ships will come into port for repairs, supplies and R&R, but there will not be any ships stationed in Subic nor will there be more than a small contingent of U.S. Navy personnel in Subic.
Clark Field is now an international airport, but U.S. military flights do stop there, mostly they are bringing in Army personnel and Marines that arrive to conduct training exercises and advisor duties with the Philippine military.
There is a large group of Filipinos that do not want our military in the Philippines. There are women rights groups that also don’t want us in the Philippines. And there is still a question concerning the Status of Forces Agreement. Some Filipinos want U.S. service members who are accused of criminal activity to be held in Philippine jails prior to going to trial, (which can take many years before going on trial).
As far as I know, this issue has not been worked out with the Philippine Government.
It is said that our ship and planes will rotate in and out of the former bases but will not be permanently stationed at the bases, nor will they stay for prolonged periods of time.
Thanks for the information. I was there with Enterprise during the first half of the 70’s. Some of the most beautiful geography in the world with a generally suckey government, not that I can point to an example of an unsuckey government. Beautiful place to be.
“Does it cost a lot to run air conditioning?”
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Well, that depends on how you use it.
I have one A/C in the bedroom, but run it only when going to bed. It is on a timer to run for a few hours.
The rest of the time, I have a cheap ceiling fan over my computer chair in the main room, and one over the bed.
Electricity is not cheap...about 10 cents per kwh.
My electric bill is about $100 per month, but over half of that is for making ice that we sell. Freezer + Refrigerator
I could see Subic being something like we've got in Sembawang, Singapore. A small Navy Exchange, Commissary and a Navy Federal but that's about it. And the ships would only be visiting.
The big mess made by Mt. Pinatubo was a matter of “good timing”.
That’s really no different from what’s going on now, is it? With the exception of some personnel being stationed there. Ships have been making liberty calls at Subic again for a while now, although I can’t imagine what they are like in today’s PC Navy. Pretty disappointing I imagine. They can’t take my fond memories though.
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