OLONGAPO, Philippines — In a bar along the Philippines’ Subic Bay owned by an American military veteran, the main topic of conversation is not the upcoming US election despite the Donald trump coffee mugs, photographs and caps on display.
The talk is of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s tensions with Washington and his courting of China, which is worrying the bar’s mostly American clients who have settled in the vicinity of the huge Subic Bay base, a former US navy installation.
“The biggest fear is that one day he’s going to wake up and say ‘everybody from the US, get out of town’ and we’d have to leave our loved ones behind,” said Jack Walker, a retired Marine sergeant who has lived in Olongapo, the town around the base, for five years.
For more than a century the Philippines and the United States have had a shared history of colonialism, wars, rebellion, aid and deep economic ties. That could change as Duterte’s three-month-old administration re-examines the relationship.
In a series of conflicting statements, Duterte has insulted US President Barack Obama and the US ambassador in Manila for questioning his war on drugs, which has led to the deaths of more than 2,000 suspected users and pushers. He told Obama to “go to hell” and alluded to severing ties with Washington.
Then, after weeks of anti-American rhetoric, Duterte said the Philippines would maintain its existing defense treaties and its military alliances.
The comments have left Americans and US businesses in the Philippines jittery about their future, said Ebb Hinchliffe, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce.
“Every time he opens his mouth and says something negative about America, that hurts me personally ... and from a business standpoint, it’s not helping,” he said.
He said three trade delegations representing American technology, financial services and manufacturing companies had cancelled trips to the Philippines in recent weeks. — Reuters
