Swirling crowds on Fields Avenue in Angeles city north of Manila provide a noisy contrast to the peace and quiet of the Clark
Pleasure-seekers from around the world check out one of Asia's more raucous entertainment districts across from the main gate of the one-time air base, wandering in and out of bars featuring bikini-clad dancers available for the price of a "bar fine." Within the fence surrounding the base, the air strip and hangars of the tiny Philippine
If military flights are few and far between, a dozen passenger planes a day bring in tourists from Asian cities, notably men with time and money to spare. They alight at a a gleaming commercial terminal that provides most of the action on the 3,200-meter-long runway from which U.S. Air Force fighter and cargo planes once took off and landed on operations from the middle east to Vietnam.
The U.S. Air Force evacuated the base a few days before Mount Pinatubo, in the nearby Zambales mountains to the west, erupted in June 1991, inundating the base with volcanic ash. Then, several months later, the Philippine Senate refused to approve renewal of the lease on both Clark and the navy base at Subic, across the mountains on the South China Sea. The hollow shells of concrete barracks and office buildings testify to the historical American presence while a base conversion authority attracts light industrial plants, retail shops and hotels amid stretches of empty fields along broad avenues originally built by the American occupiers.
President Benigno Aquino III testified to the decay of the Philippine Air Force at a speech acknowledging "many decades of corruption, abuse and lack of attention" had undermined the strength of what he said had once been "one of the strongest air forces in Asia." Whether that claim is really true, there is no doubt the air force, with only a handful of helicopters and one or two cargo planes, is now one of the weakest in the region. Aquino claimed a dozen FA-50 fighter jets, made in South Korea, would mean "we can effectively protect our territory," but they won't begin to arrive until next year -- and nobody imagines they can do much beyond support army troops fighting Muslim and communist guerrilla forces on Philippine soil.
The commander of the Philippine air force, Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado, outlined the priorities while welcoming the arrival of 10 new helicopters that he said would support the army in combating insurgents scattered throughout the Philippines. As for the FA-50s, the general said they were a step toward "transition" to advanced fighter planes -- presumably F15s and F16s that would be critical to defense.
The emphasis these days is "internal security," said a spokesman. Then "We will go toward external defense" -- a reference to China's buildup in the Spratly Islands where the Philippines also has built up facilities and challenges China's claims to all of them. He was vague, however, as to when the Philippines could reach that stage -- perhaps, he said, "in the succeeding horizons."
The Philippine defense secretary, Voltaire Gazmin, was realistic. With "our meager financial resources," he said, the armed forces had to be able to "acquire reliable platforms at very reasonable costs" despite a 25% increase in the defense budget.
For the Philippines, one solution is to form "strategic partnership" with countries that also are wary of China's growing strength. The foreign secretary, Alberto del Rosario, said the Philippines is on the verge of reaching a deal with Vietnam, sharing common cause against China in the South China Sea. Already the Philippines is counting on Japan to provide much needed patrol planes for tracking Chinese submarines.
The foreign secretary neglected to mention, of course, that Vietnam, after long wars against the French, the Americans and finally the Chinese along its northern frontiers, is infinitely better equipped, and motivated, than the Philippines when it comes to facing another challenge in the South China Sea.
On Fields Avenue, though, the prospect of war seems not only distant but irrelevant. Girls beckon customers outside scores of bars while shopkeepers sell glittering arrays of dresses and lingerie as well as viagra, cialis and black-market cigarettes. Drugs, notably marijuana, are also available -- though not on display. Cocaine and meth for foreigners are furtively offered behind closed doors and alleys packed with cars, motorcycles and motor-driven "trikes."
Back on the base, Philippine officials and business people live comfortably in homes once occupied by American officers. New apartment complexes and hotels draw pleasure-seekers who alternate between days on a 36-hole course and nights on the town. "Business is good," said Dennis, an American navy veteran in a bar called "Marguerita Station" run by a former U.S. air force veteran. The only real concern about China is that economic problems are spreading around Asia -- meaning less money for men looking for the high life on Fields Avenue.
