Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 9, 1995

[Mr. Jose de Venecia], the Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Philippines, came. They gave explanations about the situation of the parliament; they are hardworking and effective. He is supposed to come to Iran. He placed great emphasis on cooperation in the field of oil and gas.

We went to the airport. With our own plane, we flew to the Subic [Bay Freeport Zone]. For fifty years it was an American military base, and recently, with the expiration of the agreement, it has been handed over to the Philippines. The Minister of Energy was accompanying us. The people of the surrounding towns had gathered and gave a warm welcome. Most were students. I think they had brought them. The area is very pleasant.

The green heights and the seaside on Subic Bay, surrounded by the heights, were suitable for the base, and the Americans had also built it very well. There are many piers, suitable even for berthing aircraft carriers and supertankers. It also has a capable manager who has run it well and gave good explanations. We visited the forests, the logistics office buildings, the residential areas, and the operational buildings.

They have made it a free trade zone and are gradually converting the halls into factories. They claimed that hundreds of units had signed contracts and a number had started work. I visited two units, a telephone factory and a shoe factory. Each had about a thousand workers, and the workers' wages were about one hundred dollars a month; one had come from Singapore and the other from Yugoslavia. They cited the cheapness of labor as the reason for choosing this place.

At the briefing hall, Mr. Gordon, [head of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone], gave good explanations and said that after the Americans left, the first problem was the unemployment of the people who had worked for the Americans. One hundred and forty thousand people had become unemployed, but so far thirty-five thousand people had found work in the free zone. The free zone's income comes from a five percent duty and the rent of the premises. They have the infrastructure. I too gave a short speech. I expressed happiness at the transformation of a military base into a center of production and trade, and of a den of Satan into a place of cooperation and friendship. In the film they showed at lunch about the conversion into a free zone, a Filipino woman, while expressing concern about the unemployment of the people with the Americans' departure, had also expressed happiness at the departure of the American Satan; their use of the term "Satan" was interesting to me.

A heavy rain began. We returned to Manila. We rested at the hotel until five o'clock. In the south of Manila, we went to one of the Muslims' mosques. The people had a good gathering in front of the mosque and gave a warm welcome, but there were few Islamic traces; girls and boys, unveiled and mixed. In the mosque, the congregational prayer was led by me, and the prayer leader offered his welcome. Two people spoke. They spoke in veiled terms about jihad and resistance. They must have been referring to the issues of the southern Mindanao. The Quran reciter, a Filipino who had won Quran competitions, also recited verses about jihad. One of them, who was a university professor, condemned terrorism and fundamentalism. A seminary student who had studied in Qom and had come from the south gave private explanations about the situation of the mosques in the south of Manila. I too gave a short speech on the necessity of Muslim unity and adherence to the Quran. We donated a carpet to the mosque. It was arranged that we would also provide financial assistance for the development of the mosque. The south of Manila is very ruined and backward, with dirty and narrow places, crowded population, dilapidated cars, and poor people.

We went to the Iranian embassy. Iranians residing there had gathered. Students and merchants gave explanations about their lives and problems. The students complained about the shortage of foreign currency and Iran's strictness in accepting academic documents, and the merchants demanded control over Iran's export standards; but overall their situation is satisfactory. I too promised to address their requests. The schoolchildren also performed an anthem.

We returned to the hotel. Two letters had arrived from the Moro Liberation Front. They requested a meeting and complained about the Philippine government's evasion in implementing the Tripoli Agreement, and they asked for help to continue the struggle; they anticipate the start of conflict. I gave the letters to Dr. Velayati to follow up. I do not consider conflict to be in anyone's interest, but pursuing demands through possible means is good. There are about ten million Muslims in the south who suffer from discrimination.