Dan Christian E.

Alab 2nd Year-BS ECE Philippine History N2

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Subject
Philippine History

Contributing Factors to the Closure of American Military Facilities in the

Philippines and its Implications

Submitted by:
Dan Christian E. Alab
BS ECE

Submitted to:
Mr. Leo Paulo Imperial

May 2015
Dan Christian E. Alab 2nd Year-BS ECE Philippine History N2

Background of the Study

American military facilities in the Philippines originated when the American
colonizers came to annex the country. However, during 1991 the Philippine government
decided to close the military facilities in the country due to several reasons (San Juan,
1993). After a 25-year absence, the United States is poised to operate in the Philippines
once again due to the tension of the Philippines and China. Offering to open up the eight
bases, which made possible by EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement), for
the American to utilize in assisting to modernize our very own military forces (Hayden,
2015). American military facilities in our country were terminated by the government
under the Aquino administration yet today we are allowing our own country to be utilized
by foreign military facilities under an Aquino administration. Consequently, the researcher
wants to discover if the reasons for the closure of the said facilities are reasonable or not
for up until today we are still dependent to the Americans especially in terms of military
defense. If it outweighs the benefit we might incur if we let the foreign military facilities
in sustain their activities here in the Philippines. In addition, he wants to know if the
implications of the closure of the facilities are significant and if it stills affects us today.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to know the following:

1. What contributed to the reasons that led to the closure US Military Facilities in the
Philippines and if it outweighs the benefit we were obtaining from them?
2. What were the implications of the closure US Military Facilities in the Philippines?

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Literature and studies related to the present study are presented in this part to clarify
concepts covered by the study.
Dan Christian E. Alab 2nd Year-BS ECE Philippine History N2

Related Literature:

Garcia and Nemenzo(1988) revealed many reasons why the US Military must go
namely: Philippines is a ‘pawn’ in the US globe game, freedom of nuclear weapons, a
question of sovereignty, and unjustified foreign intervention. These reasons generally
becomes evident in the making of the 1987 Philippine constitution that stated specifically
in Article II Declaration of the Principles and State Policies that shows that the state shall
pursue an independent foreign policy and a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons.
Evidently, this pieces of information is essential in the study for it ultimately gave the
rationale why the foreign military facilities were needed to be evicted from our own
country. Furthermore, this give the researcher an overview on how and why the foreign
facilities needed to be closed.

According to Simbulan(1985), the paltry sum which US bases and facilities in the
Philippines are supposed to annually pump into the local economy dwindles in comparison
to the billions of dollars of profits the US corporations are extracting from the Philippines.
Worse, the social costs to national dignity, i.e., the degradation of our women, suffered
by the Filipino people because of the maintenance of these bases is irreplaceable. Here,
the author perception is the socio-economic costs of the bases that may lead to its
closure. Also, he cites many different kind of repercussion of the US facilities here in our
country. This consequences may be associated to the cessation of the operation of the
US military facilities in our own country. Consequently, he stated that the Americans are
protecting us from other foreign nationalities but who is going to protect the Filipinos
from the Americans. From this statement, the oppression felt by the Filipinos although
not obvious at first, was still evident and detrimental to our society.

Romualdez(1980), also disclose several issues about the closure of the US Facilities
in the Philippines like the issue of sovereignty, criminal jurisdiction, labor, mutual security,
taxation, and twenty-five more issues. These issues were included in the 1976
negotiations of the Philippines and America in Baguio regarding the America’s military
facilities in the Philippines. Furthermore, this expose that the 1976 negotiations were
aimed at abolishing, not amending, the Military Bases Agreement of 1947. The decision
Dan Christian E. Alab 2nd Year-BS ECE Philippine History N2

to seek an entirely new arrangement was arrived at when it became clear to the Philippine
Government that there was something radically wrong with the existing arrangements.
As a resut, this negotations may be a sort of catalyst for the Philippine to realize to cut
any agreements of the usage of the Philippines as its military base. Moreover, these issues
resulted to the need of the Filipinos to evict the Americans for the costs outweigh the
benefits. Also, this issues supports the leading reasons on the decision of the Philippine
government to eradicate US military facilities in the Philippines.

Lindsey (1989), made a commentary about the cost of losing the American bases
in the Philippines in economic terms. Also, he bared the US military facilities employment
and expenditure that contributed in Philippine economic data that they spent 350 million
dollars in the Philippines and over 42,000 Filipinos employed were employed in the bases.
Furthermore, the repercussion of the closure of the American bases in the Philippines in
our own economy and not just the contribution of the US bases in the Philippines but also
the foreign investment brought about by the military bases that might be affected by the
closure of the American bases. This might be a consequence in the closure of the
American bases that is useful to this present study for it give a new aspect on the impacts
of the closure of the bases in the Philippines.

San Juan (1993), made a study regarding the impacts of the closure of the
American facilities in the Philippines. He revealed many different aspects of the
repercussions of the closure of the said bases like security, political, economic, and social
aspect in the Philippines. Moreover, he disclosed the closure of U.S. bases in the
Philippines has broad political, economic, and security implications to both the United
States and the Philippines. Overall, both countries have lost significant benefits and
advantages from the continued operation of the bases - primarily economic benefits for
the Philippines and essentially military flexibility for the United States. The negative
consequences have not been as ominous as initially feared because of the reduced
security threats, the built-in resiliency of U.S. forces and the strong resolve of the U.S.
leadership to retain its capability to respond decisively to tomorrow's challenges. In
addition, he didn’t just bared what may be the repercussion of this to the Philippines but
Dan Christian E. Alab 2nd Year-BS ECE Philippine History N2

as well as to the U.S.A giving a new perspective that it doesn’t only affects our own
country. Furthermore, this study concluded by him is great contribution to the present
study for it aims is to solely know what the repercussion of the closure of the American
military facilities in the Philippines.
Dan Christian E. Alab 2nd Year-BS ECE Philippine History N2

WORK CITED LIST

Garcia, E., & Nemenzo, F. (1988). The Sovereign Quest Freedom From Foreign Military
Based.Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publishing.

Simbulan, R. G. (1985). The Based of our Insecurities (Second ed.).

Manila, Philippines: BALAI Fellowship.

Romualdez, Eduardo Z. A Question of Sovereignty: The Military Bases and Philippine

American Relations, 1944-1979. 1980. Print.

San Juan, R. C. (1993). CLOSURE OF U.S. MILITARY BASES IN THE PHILIPPINES:

IMPACT AND IMPLICATIONS. Retrieved May 13, 2016, from
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a264489.pdf

Lindsey, C. (1989). The Economics of the US Military Bases in the Philippines.

Kasarinlan Philippine Journal of the Third World Studies, 5, 45-58. Retrieved May
14, 2016, from http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/kasarinlan/article/view/804

Hayden, S. (2015, October 1). The Philippines and the US Military May Be Getting Back
Together, Thanks to China The Philippines and the US Military May Be Getting
Back Together, Thanks to China DEFENSE & SECURITY The Philippines and the
US Military May Be Getting Back Together, Thanks to China. Retrieved May 15,
2016, from https://news.vice.com/article/the-philippines-and-the-us-military-
may-be-getting-back-together-thanks-to-china