If the U.S. military comes back, we'll be here. Many Filipinos who worked for the U.S. military here and at Clark Air Base now have jobs in the economic zones. But they said salaries, benefits and management styles don't match those under the Americans, and there's longing to have them back. Americans stationed at the bases can still see plenty of reminders of past lives, although in altered states. The ghosts of Marine security still haunt Subic.
Paranoid drivers count three seconds at every stop sign before driving forward.
Trunks are still checked at gates for smuggled goods. Security officers snap to attention and yell out general orders at demand in both Tagalog and English. The base's monkeypod and fire trees remain untouched, and Telegraph Hill stands as a comfortable landmark if you get lost in the many duty-free shops around the old commissary and hospital area. Beyond the gates, Magsaysay Avenue leading out of Subic Bay is quiet at night, the hostess bars and discos gone. But hostess bars remain open down the road in Subic City.