CLARK FREEPORT – “I will treat them as tourists just like any other nationality that visits Olongapo.”
Thus, said Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino in answer to US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr.’s question on how the city will secure US troops in Olongapo during the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) joint military exercises with their Filipino counterparts or when the US Navy docks its ships for rest and recreation (R&R) stop for its personnel.
“That’s all I wanted to hear,” Paulino quoted Thomas as saying when the latter paid a courtesy call to him and discussed among others the security of US troops in Olongapo City.
“Mayor we don’t usually do this,” Thomas reportedly told Paulino who was yet to take his oath as the new mayor of Olongapo City at that time. “But we wanted your assurance,” the ambassador added.
Paulino said he told Thomas that the visiting US troops will be “a big welcome” since he grew up in Angeles and Olongapo cities where the US had its biggest military bases outside mainland USA before the Military Bases Agreement was abrogated by the Philippine Senate in 1992.
“I will not treat them as military personnel but as tourists,” Paulino told Thomas who nodded in agreement.
“We will protect them. They will have a good time in Olongapo without being disturbed,” Paulino assured Thomas.
The mayor also told Thomas that security personnel in the city will establish “invisible boundaries” so that US troops and tourists alike will not stray into dangerous or unsecured areas.
Paulino said they will upgrade the city government facilities and asked owners of commercial establishments like restaurants and malls to install CCTVs and be security conscious.
At least two big malls, SM City Olongapo and Harbor Point Mall, are now open for business in the city.
Paulino said he will revive the “Mardigrass Festival” in the city’s entertainment area of Rizal and Gordon avenues and will make Magsaysay Avenue a “walking street” which will be closed to vehicular traffic.
He said in line with this, popular bands will be revived and singers that started their careers in Olongapo will be invited like Arnel Pineda, Freddie Aguilar, and Sampaguita who have all signified their intention to come back for a visit and jam with the local bands just like the old times.
A beach property that is privately owned but was closed by the previous administrations for 10 years now “because they have always been against the Gordons” will also be opened, Paulino said.
The mayor also said rivers and creeks will soon be desilted to prevent flooding in low lying areas of the city.
Meanwhile, Malacañang recently said it was willing to discuss with senators a planned agreement to give the United States and other allies access to Philippine military bases.
But even as some lawmakers raised concerns about the constitutionality of the plan, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin confirmed the study in reaction to a foreign news report that the Philippines had plans to build new air and naval bases that US forces could use to counter China’s creeping presence in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
Gazmin clarified that the Philippines would not build new air and naval bases, but give the United States, Japan and other allies access to its military bases.
