Subic Bay issue thorn in Joseph Estrada's side

Subic Bay issue thorn in Joseph Estrada's side

By Ruben Alabastro

MANILA (Reuters): A bustling freeport touted as a symbol of the Philippines' economic promise has turned into a political battleground for new President Joseph Estrada, an ex-actor who, in his movies, always conquers in the end.

But unlike in his 1960s film roles, Estrada is caught in a real-life drama without any script and there is no guarantee his attempt to oust a political foe as chief of the Subic Bay freeport will have a happy ending for him, analysts said.

"My concern here is that we have an economic crisis... We can't afford this mess," political analyst Nelson Navarro told Reuters, referring to a bitter public quarrel between Estrada and Richard Gordon, who refuses to step down as chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) despite Estrada's order sacking him.

"The imbroglio would be hilarious, like some Lilliputian collision, if it weren't so detrimental to our country," Philippine Star newspaper publisher Max Soliven said. "What foreign banker or financier will want to risk capital in such a seething feudal milieu?"

The affair has emerged as an early test of the leadership of Estrada, a college dropout who took office 13 days ago after winning the May election, riding on his popularity with the poor. "The credibility of the tough-guy political persona that the new president is trying to project is on the line," University of the Philippines political science professor Alex Magno said.

The "Battle of Subic Bay", once a huge U.S. naval base 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Manila, flared on June 30 when Estrada, hours after taking office, fired Gordon and named a loyal presidential supporter as new SBMA chairman.

Waiving "No Vacancy" signs, Gordon and hundreds of followers barricaded roads leading to the freeport with barbed wire, slabs of rock and human bodies to prevent his successor from coming in. After Estrada threatened to remove Gordon bodily from Subic, the defiant chairman got an order from a judge restraining the president until the legality of his sacking had been settled. Gordon broke into tears, the barricades came down but Subic's image as an investment haven had been gored.

Last week's three-day stand-off might have cost the freeport as much as US$3.5 million a day in business losses, the local chamber of commerce said, urging both sides to settle the row immediately.

The court is to decide this week if Gordon's firing is lawful. Once the biggest American military facility outside the United States mainland, Subic Bay was the seat of U.S. military power in Asia until 1992 when American forces withdrew after the Philippine Senate rejected a new bases pact with Washington.

A year after Manila passed a law designating Subic as a freeport, Gordon transformed the abandoned facility into a booming industrial complex, held up by the Philippines as a symbol of its economic turnaround after being Asia's basket case for years.

The freeport has attracted about 300 tenants, making products ranging from computer boards and dresses to armored personnel carriers. Its exports the past four years have totaled $1.4 billion.

The Philippines trumpeted Subic's success when it chose the freeport as venue of the 1996 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

There is no love lost between Estrada and Gordon. Bad blood has existed between them since 1991 when Estrada, then a senator, helped lead a successful campaign to oust U.S. military bases from the country. Gordon had fought to keep the bases.

"It is only a matter of time before Gordon breaks down -- the full crush of presidential powers has been brought to bear on him," analyst Amando Doronila wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper.

Doronila slammed Estrada's efforts to remove Gordon as a "reckless and vindictive exercise of power".

Estrada defenders say it is the right of any president to choose people he trusts to help him run the government.

Gordon, re-appointed in February by then president Fidel Ramos to a second six-year term as SBMA chairman, says his firing violates the security tenure of civil servants.

In the final analysis, the squabbling offers lessons in statesmanship, analysts say.

"The president cannot come slugging his way into a situation, expecting the rest of the players to be intimidated by his bluster or by his bulk," Magno said, adding Estrada should have tried a less aggressive method of dealing with Gordon.

"That way, we are spared grotesque entertainment."