Friday Meeting, Subic Bay, Cubi Point, and GDHS

Early Friday morning we met for breakfast with Ronnie Tiotuico, the Director of Region III, Philippine Department of Tourism, at the Holiday Inn at Clark.

Ronnie was very excited about our plans for the upcoming PI/Clark 2000 trip and offered to help us in any way possible.  In addition, he has asked for Gary's and my help in creating a new website for his organization.  We plan to setup a U.S. domain to support his efforts.

Following breakfast, VJ and I headed for a day trip to Subic with our great Rajah tour guide Tony, and our venerable driver Steve.  The weather looked gloomy with lots of rain forecast.  We weren't disappointed.

We headed out the Friendship Gate and took a road bypassing Angeles to San Fernando which didn't exist in the early '60s.  At the junction of the Subic/Olongapo and Bataan Highways, we stopped to photograph a new monument to the Defenders of Bataan.

As we neared Subic, we took a another new bypass tollroad which took us directly into Subic and avoided the congestion of Olongapo.

We were amazed at the beautiful state of the former U.S. naval base.  As a "free port" the area seems to have thrived economically.  Residents of the area, including Olongapo are entitled to almost tax free status, allowing the local importation of much needed manufacturing and transportation equipment without the usual bureaucracy and taxes found elsewhere (even at Clark).

Laws are strict in the area, particularly traffic laws.  Fines (in U.S. dollars) are levied by a local magistrate without delay.

Banking, businesses, restaurants, tourism, etc. were evident everywhere.  We visited the Subic International Hotel and took a short tour of some nice rooms and suites.

After lunch and a meeting with the manager of the hotel, we headed for Cubi Point where we hoped to get some photos of many familiar areas.

We were surprised by several colonies (?) of monkeys along the way and stopped to take pics.  Apparently monkeys are now commonplace on the less traveled portions of the base.  According to VJ, this was a change from the old days.

Even more surprising was a quiet area at Cubi set aside for bats.  Big bats!  We took more photos of some of the biggest fruit bats that I have ever seen!  Wingspans may have been nearly 6 feet or more!  They were very active and obviously not nocturnal.

We took many pics of the Cubi area then headed for the old George Dewey High School (GDHS), one of our school rivals throughout the history of Wagner.

GDHS is in great shape and used currently as a convention area, among other things.  While snooping around the school, VJ found some old video tapes in one of the classrooms, which we have sent to the GDHS alumni for their use.

After a very full day, we headed back to Clark for a scheduled dinner meeting with the former Undersecretary for Philippine Tourism and another night on Fields Avenue!

Comments and Lessons Learned:

-  it seemed easier and quicker to get to Subic from Clark, compared to the '60s
-  lots of Pinatubo effects evident in the area of Bataan (mostly lahar damage)
-  a new tollroad avoids the congestion of Olongapo and allows direct access to Subic and Cubi
-  Subic and Cubi are in great shape and seem to be thriving economically
-  laws are strict in the Subic Freeport area
-  lots of interesting photo ops with wild animals on the base
-  GDHS is developed and being used for convention related business
-  a direct road between Subic and Clark is planned

John '65 and VJ '70 - Falcons in the Mist