nomy. Also, U.S. Economic assistance regularly demands that the Philippines purchase only U.S. goods, which forced the Philippines into buying often higher priced goods than could have been bought on the world marketplace.The Philippine Government ResponseAlthough some Government officials argued that the economic benefits of the bases warranted their retention, others argued that more productive uses could be found for the bases after the U. S withdrawal. The only question was how this conversion was to take place. As a result the Legislative-Executive Bases Council (LEBC) was created to formulate a comprehensive program to convert former and existing facilities into alternative productive civilian uses .The LEBC Mapped out the following alternatives to the economic activities that would suffer upon the removal of the U.S. Bases:In Subic Naval Base, Filipinos could build and repair ships, cars, jeeps, buses, small boats, tricycles, utensils, hand tools and even build pre-fabricated housing.The huge jungle area of Subic could become a national park with its natural resources and wild creatures.Camp John Hay (a recreational USAF base in the Philippine mountains) could be converted into a tourist area.San Miguel Communications Station could be converted into a national and international communications enterprise, greatly contributing to the upgrading of the Philippine telecommunications network.Portions of Clark Air Base could be distributed into an international airport for passengers and cargo, and into an industrial center.The estimated implementation cost of the programs was P158.5 billion for a ten-year period . It was purported that the private sector would finance half of this amount. It was then the active private sector participation was first conceived as crucial to the programs success.When the U.S. Bases pulled out, there was some initial upheaval as expected in North and Central Luzon. Not only did the withdrawal affect...
