Philippine Base Dispute Eases : U.S. Shift on Aid Mix Deflates New Pact Bid

American military men call their Philippine bases the “heart of the arc” in a U.S. defense line stretching from the northern Pacific to the Arabian Sea. But the bases are also at the heart of nationalist politics here.

For Filipinos, the issue swings from sovereignty to money, with some emotional stops along the way, particularly the argument that the bases would make the Philippines a prime Soviet target in a nuclear war.

“My own personal position is that they should have gone yesterday,” says former Sen. Jose W. Diokno, a prominent voice of the liberal opposition. “But since we haven’t done that, let’s get rid of them today. But since we can’t do that--because (President Ferdinand E.) Marcos is still in power--well, as soon as we can. Let’s get rid of them.”

Last month, as the U.S. foreign aid bill was working its way through Congress, Marcos’ own men took up the cudgels. Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile proposed a resolution in Parliament calling for abrogation and renegotiation of the current bases agreement with the United States.

Another member of Parliament called for establishment of a committee to re-examine the full range of U.S.-Philippine relations, including the bases.

The move came as congressional conferees in Washington were about to take up the foreign aid bill, the House version of which called for sharp cuts in military aid to the Philippines. The timing suggested a squeeze, or a bluff, by the politicians here in an effort to gain restoration of the money sought by the White House.

However, there was clearly a strain of offended national pride involved as well. Marcos loyalists accused the House of “changing the mix” by decreasing military aid and increasing economic assistance, and suggested that it was tantamount to interference in Philippine affairs.

‘Unhampered Use’

In 1983, the Reagan Administration worked out a bases agreement with the Marcos government giving the United States “unhampered use” of the naval facilities at Subic Bay and at Clark Air Base for five years. In return, the White House pledged to seek $900 million in military and economic aid for the Philippines over the term of the agreement, in roughly equal shares.

When Reagan, following this formula, requested $100 million in military aid and $95 million in economic aid for the coming fiscal year, the Senate went along with the request. However, the House cut the military aid to $25 million, and increased economic aid to $155 million, following complaints by Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) and others that the Marcos government was seeking only a military solution to the problems of the Philippines, including its growing Communist-led insurgency.

Eventually, House and Senate conferees agreed on a compromise of $70 million in military aid and $110 million in economic funding.

The restoration of funds has appeared to deflate Defense Minister Enrile’s call for renegotiation of the bases agreement, but the Marcos government is still seething over the episode. Although the base rights are “rent free” under the 1947 U.S.-Philippine defense treaty, the presidential palace here sees the pledged aid as rent, or at least as compensation.

“Whatever you call it, it’s a deal,” said a member of Marcos’ ruling New Society Movement.

Leftists Embittered

And it is a deal that embitters political leftists. Mariano G. Miranda Jr., a Manila banker and a leader of the Nationalist Alliance for Justice, Peace and Security, says of the bases and their role in the security of the region: “If we need them (the Americans), we’ll call them. But don’t push it down our throats.”

Miranda says the bases are here to maintain American influence and business interests, but even he agrees that most Filipinos would probably vote to keep them. The American aid and the payrolls of the bases are important here. In a way, Marcos holds Washington hostage on the bases and the security and financial benefits they give to this country because alternative base sites in the Western Pacific cannot match Clark and Subic Bay.

The big naval base 50 miles northwest of Manila is the major U.S. supply, repair, training and recreation port for the 7th Fleet.

With Subic and Clark, which lies slightly farther northeast of Manila, and some communications stations, about 15,000 American servicemen are on active duty in the Philippines. In addition, an average of 9,000 sea-duty sailors are in port at Subic every day, plus other military and Defense Department personnel.

Ammunition, Repairs

The various U.S. commands at the base handle its support role for the ships of the 7th Fleet. They warehouse supplies ranging from transistors to gun barrels. They store 50,000 tons of ammunition, repair the ships of the fleet and provide training areas for amphibious landings and live-fire exercises.

They provide jobs for 26,000 Filipino workers. That payroll, plus the pay of Subic’s 8,000 American military and civilian employees and money spent by sailors on liberty, puts at least $164 million into the local economy. U.S. operations at Clark Air Base generate a similar amount.

Assistant Defense Secretary Richard L. Armitage said recently in Washington: “It is in the Philippine interest as well as ours, and in the interest of other nations in the region, that we have our forces there.” He called the bases “critically important.”

Area Costs Low

The skills and pay of the Filipino workers, particularly in the ship repair yards, help point up the American need for the bases. Pay and other costs for a Filipino worker at Subic average $50 (U.S.) a day, the Navy says. The equivalent cost in Japan would be $300; in the United States, $350.

If the United States had to move its bases elsewhere in the region, it would be impossible to replace the skilled work force of Subic at comparative costs, all sides agree.

The options discussed--Guam and Tinian in the Mariana Islands east of the Philippines--offer neither Subic’s big natural harbor nor proximity to the 7th Fleet’s area of operations. Deployment in Guam would add four days’ steaming time and four hours’ flight time.

The overall bases agreement expires in 1991 and, with both Marcos and his opposition making nationalist noises, the intervening six years promise to be turbulent in the politics of the Philippines.

If told to pull out, the Americans would have little legal choice but to comply.