March 14, 1947: Military base agreement signed between the Philippines and US
A Boeing B-29 Superfortress undergoing maintenance at Clark Air Force Base shortly after the agreement. Photo from Wikipedia
On March 14, 1947, the government of the Philippines and the United States concurred on the terms of a military base agreement. The Philippines had only been an independent country for less than a year. The United States was granted 99-year leases on 22 military sites including Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Base. Clark and Subic were the largest military bases outside the United States.
The quantity of American bases in the Philippines was not uniformly welcomed by a percentage of Filipinos. Some thought that the United States bases represented neo-colonialism and not true independence. This argument thought that the Philippines could never be a free country with so many foreign bases on its soil. This group of opponents thought the large American bases would cause a proliferation of crime and vice outside the US bases.
The Philippine proponents of American bases thought that the economic potential and impact by the US bases would counter any crime and vice outside the bases. The proponents also thought that the bases would provide the Philippines with strategic military protection by the United States. This group strongly thought that the bases benefitted both the Filipinos and Americans.
There was a consensus by a considerable number of Filipinos that Japan, the former enemy, received more favorable terms on American bases in Japan than American bases in the Philippines. The United States and the Philippines supposedly had a special relationship based on blood and sacrifice during World War II. However, the relationship did not seem so special regarding the American bases in the Philippines.
The bases negotiations between the Philippines and the United States commenced one month before Philippine independence on July 4, 1946. One of the most contentious issues was the status of American military and civilian personnel when on or off an American base.
If an American soldier committed a crime in the Philippines, would he be under the jurisdiction of the Philippines or the United States? The American negotiators thought that an American would never receive a fair trial in a Philippine court of law.
Following the March 14, 1947, signing of the Military Base Agreement, both the Philippines and the United States thought that a quiet and peaceful period had spread throughout Asia and Southeast Asia. This peaceful period ended abruptly. The communist Chinese defeated the Chinese nationalist in 1949. The Korean War started in 1950. The Hukbalahap movement in Central Luzon continued to grow and expand in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Suddenly, the American bases in the Philippines became essential to American Foreign Policy in Asia and Southeast Asia. Most Filipinos were onboard with the American bases.
Dennis Edward Flake is the author of three books on Philippine-American history. He is a Public Historian and a former park ranger in interpretation for the National Park Service at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA. He can be contacted at: flakedennis@gmail.com
