photographs of the Filipino Amerasians,

1991-1993

In 1991, the volcanic eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines severely affected the operations of the largest American air and naval military facilities outside the continental United States.

In that same year, the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines voted against a proposed US bases treaty extension for both Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Base facilities, thus ending the lease terms of nearly fifty years of the American military presence in the country.

In 1992, the United States Air Force and the United States Navy officially closed operations at Clark and Subic in an historic formal turnover of the facilities to the Philippine Government.

The following series of photographs are the children of Filipino-American blood in the city of Olongapo, the host community of Subic Naval Base in Zambales province, the Philippines.

These are my portraits of Filipinos and Americans both, and of the ties that bind.

The last American ship to leave Subic Bay, the USS Belleau Wood, October 1992, Olongapo, the Philippines.