Historical Background

The Philippine Archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean. After 333 years of Spanish colonization, the Philippines became a US colony in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American wars.

Since the beginning of the 20^th century, the Philippines has been of great strategic importance to the United States, particularly during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though the country gained independence in 1946, the continuous presence of US military bases shaped the Philippines social and economic structure.

The Subic Bay Base, together with Clark Air Force base at Angeles City, provided Rest and Recreation to lonely American servicemen and boomed during the Vietnam War, when the American soldiers created a huge demand for prostitution.

Through the decades, many women from a number of depressed regions in the country were enticed, duped or seduced into the glamour that came along with the US presence, and came to work as “entertainers” and “hospitality girls” in the Bars around the US base. The city of Olongapo did not exist before the Subic Bay Base was created.

 

In a Catholic country like the Philippines, the bar girls preferred not to add the sin of birth control to the sin of selling their bodies in the Bars. Many had long-term relationships with the servicemen from the ships, and some of them got married.

Between the early 1950s and 1992, more then 50,000 Amerasian Children, “G.I. babies”, mostly mothered by women working in the bars, were born in the areas of Subic and Clark bases alone.

As in other Asian countries, Filipino Amerasians suffer a great amount of discrimination. Abandoned in early life, living with the stigma of being illegitimate children, unable to escape prejudice due to their physical features, they are teased with the name of “Butok sa Buho” (born form the Bamboo). The fact of being of mixed race implies they are born out of wedlock. Virtually none of them knew their fathers, and most never will.

 

Regardless of their ethnic background, Filipino Amerasian children and youth suffer racial, gender and class discrimination from strangers, peers, classmates and teachers. The children of African American soldiers are especially victims of racism and prejudice; “White” female Amerasians are highly vulnerable to sexual harassment. Both boys and girls often end up in the streets, with no way to function inside society as they grow older.

Surprisingly, unlike their Vietnamese, Korean and Thai counterparts, Filipino Amerasians have no privileges regarding US citizenship. On October 22, 1982, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America passed law 97-359, which was intended to set right the unfortunate situation of Amerasians, who have little or no possibility of avoiding their plight. Filipino Amerasians were excluded from this law (together with the Japanese) as it was concluded that Filipino Amerasians were not subjected to the barrages of discrimination, prejudices and hatred suffered by Amerasians in other Asian countries. Besides, their mothers were in majority prostitutes, and the Philippines was not a war zone.

Filipino Amerasians are totally ignored by the US government and by the Filipino Authorities.  For both, certainly, admitting to their existence would be admitting the flaws of a long-term domination disguised as alliance.

 

In fact, for many Filipino Amerasians moving to the USA is not an option. The bureaucracy is too complicated and the paperwork too expensive. They know that travelling elsewhere would not lighten their burden. The USA is nothing but the far away land of their fathers. Fathers who left them behind.

The year 1992 supposedly marked the end of the US presence in the Philippines. The end of the Cold War roughly coincided with the end of the tyrannical regime of Ferdinand Marcos, and with the eruption of the Pinatubo Volcano, which left the Subic Bay Naval Station buried under a foot of rain-soaked sandy ash.

After long and acrimonious campaigns, the Philippine Senate voted to reject the treaty renewal that would allow the continued presence of US military bases on Philippine soil. By the end of 1992 both Subic Bay and Clark Bases were closed, leaving toxic waste, a depleted environment and thousands of Amerasian children in the streets.

Through these past 15 years, the Base at Olongapo City, Subic Bay has been converted into a Free Port Zone (SBMA). Big multinational companies take advantage of this tax-free haven, paying microscopic wages. The SBMA is still separated by the rest of the town by a barbed wire fence.Bars in Barrio Barretto are still open relying on sexual tourists, US soldiers still in the Area for exercises (thanks to the Visiting Forces Agreement) and US Expat Veterans, as a continuing, devastating source of income for this poverty ridden area.