All roads lead to Subic

Our 170-kilometre car journey (see grey line on map below) on Maundy Thursday took us from our home to our Subic Bay hotel in four hours. This was par for the course when we last visited this area in 2007. Back then the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) would take you smoothly to Angeles where the expressway finished,  after which travel speeds dropped due to the condition of the section of road between Angeles and Subic. The 2008 completion of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), which has a toll gate in Angeles city, means such long hauls are no longer the rule, except of course, when it is the first day of Holy Week and every man and his Toyota Vios has the same idea to head out of town.

Kindly indulge me with a slight detour here. In researching this post, I learned about the activities of the BCDA Group (which is overseen by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA)). This group plays a major role in the infrastructure development of the Philippines, as according to its website, it is responsible for, "...transform[ing] former military bases and property into premier centers of economic growth in partnership with the private sector" (see link), and lists SCTEX, Bonifacio Global City, and Newport City amongst its projects. It is in charge of running various freeport and economic zones, one of which is the Clark Freeport Zone (formerly the Clark Air Base occupied by the United States Air Force and located near Mabalacat City) and another is the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The construction of the SCTEX is linked to the development of the Clark Freeport and the Subic Bay Freeport Zones. It was constructed in two segments by joint-ventures between Japanese companies, Kajima and Obayashi, and Hazama and Taisei (see link). And just by the by, the traffic flow on NLEX also improved after upgrade works by Australian company Leighton Construction (see link) in 2005. Funding was obtained for both from the  Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), along with a number of other financial organisations.

Returning to the road and our fellow travellers again, many of them were probably making their way to Sagada, a mountainous area which is several hundred kilometres further north and which is a popular destination for religious pilgrimages. A common local practice is the Visita Iglesia (see link), where faithful members of the Roman Catholic Church seek to pray or complete the Stations of the Cross at seven different churches during Holy Week (for information about the origins of this practice see this link, and for an example of the prayer format see this link). Traditionally it was completed within a town setting, but in recent years increasing numbers of people choose to visit life-sized tableaux erected on hillsides where they feel that the difficulty of trekking in these settings simulates the suffering of Jesus more fully. That is not to say that everyone spends Holy Week in spiritual pursuits, and the beach is a much-loved destination, too.

The flow of traffic was blocked by the long lines that formed in front of the toll booths where car users were electing to pay manually. We were in a rental car without an electronic tag and this delayed our progress considerably. The plus side was that the scenery on this stretch of road is quite pretty and we were on holiday and content to soak in the scenery.

We entered Olongapo City and searched for our hotel amongst the colourful establishements that lined the aptly named Baloy Long beachfront strip. Our room had a bright blue sea view, although worryingly, the air conditioner was blowing hot air but we were reassured that it would cool down after thirty minutes. I had visions of us sweltering through the night but they kindly checked it for me and it did kick in as they promised it would.

                                                                                                         
I was surprised by the diminutive scale of Olongapo City, which is nestled snugly around Subic Bay. The roads were wide but the buildings were squat little structures, with nothing much over five stories it seemed. The view of the rolling green hills around the city was unimpeded and it felt like we were smack bang in the middle of the countryside. Naturally we visited the oldest structure listed on our guide map, the Spanish Gate, which is a remnant from the Spanish use of Subic Bay as a naval port in 1885 (see link). It was subsequently used by the Americans as the main gate to their naval station (see link) in the early twentieth century. I came across this book which details some of the thinking behind the choice of Subic Bay as an alternative port to Cavite. It seems that Guimaris was also in the running (see link), and perhaps this explains how MacArthur's Wharf on Guimaris Island came about. I remember being puzzled, during my 2005 island visit, as to why the US Army Corps of Engineers had been assigned to such a remote location. Obviously, the powers-that-be also found the location too isolated to warrant further development.

Next we visited the waterfront near Alava Pier and came across another "overseas" visitor.

We strolled along Waterfront Road and discovered it is the permanent home to a "Hellships Memorial" (see link) which was dedicated by the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Mr. Rod Smith in 2009 (sadly, it is already missing some stone sections).The unmarked Montevideo Maru carrying Australian soldiers and civilians from New Guinea was torpedoed and sunk by the USS Sturgeon off the coast of the Luzon island in the Philippines in July 1942. The passenger manifest was not made available until after the end of the war (see link) which must have been another kind of hell for the families. Most of the WW2 history I hear about involves the US, the Philippines, and Japan. It is rare to hear Australia mentioned and I spent some time reading the memorial and contemplating the events depicted.

Ironically, the next memorial we encountered was commemorating the end of the RP-US Military Bases Agreement (see link) in 1991. It was only twenty four years ago. The navy ship outlined in the background makes it seem like nothing has changed, but the SCTEX we used to travel here reminds me that from this the Bases Conversion and Development Authority was born and the country now has new infrastructure.

Our next destination was at the far side of the bay. The Engineer wanted to re-visit the container terminal (link) that his company with a joint-venture partner had completed constructing in 2007 (i.e. the reason for our first visit). As the sun started its descent, he raced to take enough photos to send to his colleague who was involved with this project. 

We returned to the hotel too late for a proper sundowner. After watching the children, who looked like they were having the time of their lives, swim and play baseball (see orange bat to right) we climbed the stairs for pre-dinner drinks to farewell the last of the light.

I had no expectations regarding dinner, in fact quite the opposite as I had packed emergency cup noodles, so it was a more than pleasant surprise when we went for our meal and found that the restaurant was fitted out like an English sports pub. It even had a model train track suspended from the ceiling, sports photos hanging all over the place and a Royal Enfield on display. I had chosen the hotel purely on availability and this accidental good fortune was very welcome. The Engineer was quite thrilled by his fish and chips, and I heartily tucked into my bangers and mash. Watching the train go round and round amused me no end, and I believe someone else quite liked his quick joy ride on the Royal Enfield en route to our room. We waddled off to bed very happily that night!