MESSAGE of PRESIDENT AQUINO TO FORMER U.S. BASE EMPLOYEES
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III has urged former employees of the former US Naval Base in Subic to “keep working together in shaping the future of your dynamic community.”
In a message on the week-long occasion of the first ever grand reunion of former base employees, President Aquino also noted the importance of reunions not only to reminisce “with old friends and co-workers” but also “to establish networks and foster collaboration among like-minded individuals.”
“This is specially true for those with similar backgrounds, as your related experiences make it easier for you to enter into productive endeavors,” he added.
Ernesto Tawatao, co-chairman of the executive committee that organized the reunion said some 1,000 former base employees have registered and many more are expected to follow suit. “This is going to be an annual event, especially now that the city council of Olongapo has passed a resolution declaring every third week of March the ‘Former Base Workers’ Week,'” Tawatao explained.
The reunion kicked-off this morning with a holy mass at the San Roque Chapel in the Subic Bay Freeport, a chapel built for US Sailors and their families when the place was still a US military installation, where Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino, himself a former base worker, joined several hundred others, many home from the US and other countries, purposely to attend.
Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino, himself a former base worker, joined several hundred others, many home from the US and other countries, purposely to attend the Grand Reunion of Former Subic Naval Base Employees. Photo shows Paulino in one of many requests for their pictures be taken with the mayor after the Holy Mass at San Roque Chapel, that kicked-off the start of the week-long reunion. SBNphoto by Vic V.Vizcocho, Jr.
The US Navy left in 1992 after almost a century of presence when the Philippine Senate did not ratify an extension of their basing rights in the country, triggering massive unemployment and displacements of several of thousands of workers and their families dependent on the base either as employees, doing business with the US Navy or engaged in support industries.
Olongapo City residents, as well as of the neighboring provinces of Zambales and Bataan, were and still are mainly against the US base’s pull-out that they view the 12 Senators that voted against the treaty as “demons.”
The former base employees’ grand reunion continues on Monday, March 17 with a flag-raising ceremony in front of Bldg. 229, former office of the US Navy Commander in Subic, now the office of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman (SBMA) Roberto V. Garcia and members of the Board of Directors.
After the flag-raising, the former US Naval Base workers will conduct ground-breaking ceremonies in an open space in a park along Dewey Ave. corner Taft St., where, with the approval of the SBMA board led by Garcia, a marker will be built “to serve as an ever present reminder that the Subic Bay Freeport was a former US base where filipinos showed the world that we are world-class employees,” Tawatao said.
On Tuesday, the former base workers will open a photo exhibit at Harbor Point Mall, which will feature old photos of Subic as a US base. The exhibit will last until March 31, beyond the March 16-22, 2014 Base Workers’ week.
More activities have been lined-up, including a “no-host” shindig also on Tuesday at Pier One, inside the Subic Bay Freeport, possible ship tours on Thursday and an afternoon parade from Olongapo City to the Freeport’s Remy Field, where there will be a “pass-in-review” of SBMA Law Enforcers, music, dancing, raffle draw, etc. (Vic V. Vizcocho, Jr./Subic Bay News)
