United States Armed Forces Philippines

Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday shot and killed three Americans, two of them active-duty military personnel and the third a retired Air Force officer, in separate ambushes all within a mile of America's sprawling Clark Air Base north of Manila. American and Philippine military authorities said Wednesday night that they had no clues to the identity of the killers, and details of the attacks were sketchy.

The campaign of kidnapping and terror waged for a decade by Muslim extremists on Basilan island hasn't ended yet, but residents believe that they know why the tide seems to be turning in the government's favor. It's because of the American soldiers who recently arrived, and their high-tech equipment. "The Americans are superior," math teacher Mario Orbigoso said as he slouched at the front gates of a school. "They can see at night." Off-duty police Sgt. Jalal Masalim agreed.

Across the fetid canal that separates the U.S. Navy base at Subic Bay from this famed liberty town, a broken one-room shanty with no electricity and eight occupants is a stark vision of America's mixed legacy in the Philippines. Roxanne and Melanie Hill, both former bar girls, are Amerasians, named for their American grandfather, a U.S. serviceman. The two sisters have different fathers, both U.S. servicemen. Roxanne has three children, each by different American servicemen.

The voice, tense and urgent, crackled over Capt. Harold Cabunoc's radio with the news that fighting had begun. "It's ongoing! It's ongoing!" came the raw-edged words from the battle zone Thursday. As the Philippine army officer called for an estimate of enemy strength, four U.S. Special Forces soldiers and three Philippine servicemen scrambled aboard a jeep and headed off hurriedly.

Ever since three Americans were ambushed and killed outside Clark Air Base east of here, the gates to the giant U.S. naval base at Subic Bay had been closed, and the nearby town of Olongapo quickly began to die. Bar girls were pawning their jewelry and television sets. Bar owners thought seriously about selling out and moving on. In just one week's time, local officials said, more than $1 million dollars in business had been lost.

An unprecedented lawsuit filed Thursday says the U.S. Navy should pay medical and education expenses for thousands of impoverished Amerasian children fathered and abandoned by U.S. servicemen in the Philippines. The class-action suit charges that the children are owed the financial support because they are the product of a Navy policy that fostered and encouraged a prostitution industry for sailors stationed or on leave in the island nation.

The 18-year-old bar girl said she wanted to kill herself, so Richard Gordon, the mayor of this city outside the U.S. naval base, produced his 9-millimeter automatic, placed it in front of her and said, "OK, go ahead." The girl, one of 26 AIDS victims in Olongapo, studied the gun for a moment and then broke down. She and the mayor ended the session in a tearful embrace. But Gordon knew he had not gotten through to her. That was 30 days ago. Finally, on Tuesday morning, Gordon reached her.

About 15,000 American service personnel, dependents and civilians were ordered early today to evacuate Clark Air Base, one of the largest U.S. bases overseas, after a Philippines volcano dormant for six centuries began exploding with searing gases, thick ash and deadly debris. Lt. Col. Ron Rand, a spokesman at Clark, announced at 5 a.m.

As bugles blared retreat and a farewell honor guard stood at attention, the American flag was slowly lowered for the last time here Tuesday as the United States formally turned over its oldest and once-largest overseas base to the Philippines. Within an hour of the solemn ceremony, dozens of looters were reported climbing over fences toward a base housing complex and ripping out major electric cables.

The United States is preparing to withdraw 10% to 12% of its military forces from South Korea, Japan and the Philippines over the next three years, according to a classified Pacific strategy plan being prepared by the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney will present the plan to South Korean defense officials today as he begins 10 days of high-level meetings with leaders of the East Asian allies.

A U.S. Army helicopter carrying 10 troops crashed at sea early today, U.S. military officials said, resulting in the first casualties in Southeast Asia in the expanding war on terrorism. Philippine Gen. Roy Cimatu, chief of the Southern Command, said three people were rescued, apparently by fishermen, and the bodies of three others were recovered. U.S.

It's called "Balikatan," or "Shoulder to Shoulder," and it will soon be the biggest U.S. military operation in a combat zone outside Afghanistan since the war on terror began. The Pentagon has committed 650 soldiers, including 160 Special Forces troops, to help the Philippine government track down and defeat the ruthless Abu Sayyaf, a gang of Islamic kidnappers that may have links to Osama bin Laden.

Philippine troops have set up a jungle camp for U.S. Special Forces who will train local soldiers in missions designed to wipe out a Muslim extremist group linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network, a military spokesman said Saturday. The "forward base" is on the southern island of Basilan, where the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are holding an American couple hostage, said Capt. Noel Detoyato of the Philippine military.

An unprecedented lawsuit filed Thursday says the U.S. Navy should pay medical and education expenses for thousands of impoverished Amerasian children fathered and abandoned by U.S. servicemen in the Philippines. The class-action suit charges that the children are owed the financial support because they are the product of a Navy policy that fostered and encouraged a prostitution industry for sailors stationed or on leave in the island nation.

Across the fetid canal that separates the U.S. Navy base at Subic Bay from this famed liberty town, a broken one-room shanty with no electricity and eight occupants is a stark vision of America's mixed legacy in the Philippines. Roxanne and Melanie Hill, both former bar girls, are Amerasians, named for their American grandfather, a U.S. serviceman. The two sisters have different fathers, both U.S. servicemen. Roxanne has three children, each by different American servicemen.

The United States lowered the American flag over its Subic Bay Naval Base for the last time Wednesday and formally handed over the giant complex to the Philippines. A steady drizzle drenched about 150 diplomats and military officials as a U.S. Navy band rang down the curtain on nearly a century of U.S. military presence at the base. "This is in some way a sad day," U.S. Ambassador Richard Solomon told the ceremony at the base's Tappan Park. ". . .

A U.S. Air Force sergeant was shot and killed Monday night by gunmen in a residential subdivision near Clark Air Base north of Manila, American and Philippine authorities said today. The victim, who was identified by local authorities as Sgt. Richard Blackmer, 34, apparently was walking his two German shepherds through the Mountain View subdivision about a mile from the U.S. base's main gate about 9:30 p.m. when gunmen in a passing car opened fire with automatic weapons, local police said.

The scene at the McDonald's fast-food restaurant here, just outside Clark Air Base, seemed to mock the mood of the city. "Ronald McDonald Birthday Club," the sign announced. "Halloween Costume Party, Oct. 31, 1987." But nobody was preparing for the celebration. And, for the first time since the restaurant opened here nearly a decade ago, less than a mile from the largest U.S. military base outside the United States, there were no Americans present. On Wednesday night, a U.S.

The last American military dependents left the Subic Bay Naval Base on Wednesday, marking a major step in the phaseout of nearly a century of U.S. military presence in this former colony. The Navy said 232 wives and children of sailors took a chartered flight to Guam. With their departure, only about 1,400 U.S. sailors remain at what had been the largest U.S. naval base in Asia.

U.S. and Philippine officials will consider arranging limited future access for American military forces in the Philippines after the last U.S. bases here are closed down, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Saturday. Emerging from a 30-minute meeting with newly elected Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos, Baker told reporters that military access for the United States will be discussed in November at a meeting of the Mutual Defense Board.