Philippine Pottering

This area of the Philippines has some of the last few unspoilt patches of rainforest in South East Asia. It is perhaps an unexpected legacy of the huge US base that was active here until the early nineties when a nearby mountain exploded and covered the place in volcanic ash, and the the government decided not to renew the lease.

The base zone cordoned off a segment of land around Subic Bay, near the city of Olongapo. Within that area, except for where the military built a town that still looks like a piece of mini-America, much of the forest was left alone, whilst outside so much of the countryside has been cleared for agricultural purposes.  It's now a national park and free-trade port, but it doesn't appear that the local authorities have yet realised the growing potential for Eco-tourism.

I'm on the bus heading back to Manilla, and will be back in Singapore tonight.  It's an incredible contrast. Not unlike my brief experiences of Thailand or Indonesia, there are so many people living a breadline-poor hand-to-mouth existence here.

On the dive boat yesterday, the local owner of the small craft told us about the year she'd just had - she'd been double-crossed by her previous expat business partner, who got into debts and just left the country without saying a word, leaving her stuck with a mountain of bills. Plus, she'd got diagnosed with cancer, and was only able to pay for half a round of chemotherapy - and to do that her family had to sell virtually everything they had. She was amazingly cheerful despite this, and clearly a resourceful woman, as through the help of former dive students she'd recently been loaned or given money to finish the treatment, and start back in business with a new little boat.

Staying in Subic in the homestay guesthouse run by an Australian dive instructor Nate (plus his parents), I was able to truly relax - it was a house built for officers' families in the fifties, in a quiet cul-de-sac, with even a small ginger pet cat to complete the domestic ensemble. Nathan and his parents we're typically Aussie - friendly, direct, and very matter of fact about the quirks of setting up a dive business in a place where so many foreign business have come and gone before even doing one day's proper trading. It's not clear why the area is somewhat financially stagnant, the tax breaks in the free zone mean some firms pay no tax all for the first five years. However, there's definitely a whiff of suffocating bureaucracy, and if not underlying corruption exactly, certainly that it helps to have a local friend in local government or law enforcement to 'oil the wheels' of any teething snags that arise.

I hope to return soon, as Nate and family are great hosts, and there are some more excellent dives to do in the bay.  As for Subic bay, I think it's got some big challenges ahead if it wants secure attract more tourists looking for a more complete and distinctive destination.



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