It was then that a venereal disease called Vietnam Rose was first heard of in Olongapo City after the Filipina bar girls contracted it from diseased servicemen. This was a form of Herpes we were told but it could have been a variety of the HIV Virus.
A massive testing programme on the Olongapo prostitutes was begun by the US Navy to trace the AIDS virus. Hundreds were estimated to have been infected but no official figures were ever released.
The Olongapo Administration, when faced with a base closure and an end to the sex industry, conducted massive rallies in the Senate to lobby for the retention of the US Naval Base saying that an economic dislocation would cripple the City. For them, economic development was not through dignified work with fair wages and benefits.
There was no alternative industry, no factories to gradually end the dependence on the US Naval Base. Rather, the sex industry was expanded through mardi gras festivals, the October Festival, and other circus-like events to attract tourists and try to recreate the boom days during the Vietnam war.
When the Americans were finally made to relinquish their hold on the Subic Naval Base, Olongapo was caught off guard because it did not prepare economically. There was a period of shock and disbelief among many of the city residents that lasted for almost two years. Again there was no investment in the city. It was allowed to deteriorate and the rivers were not dredged. This caused massive flooding in May 1997.
When the US Naval Base closed, the sex industry collapsed. A Diaspora ensued and most of the city's population looked for work elsewhere. They could not find it in Olongapo so they looked for it outside of Olongapo.
YWAM has ministered to the prostitutes who remain, much fewer in number than in the days of the US military base however.
Nevertheless, many bars and clubs remain in Ologapo, remnants of the old days of the big sex industry. YWAM helps to rescue women from the trap of prositution and then they live as disciples in the YWAM house and get closer to God while learning skills that can help them make a better living.
This website only is a photo album mostly from 2003. The YWAM Ologapo website is located at:
2003 YWAM Olongapo photo album
Ministry to Prostitutes - photos 2003
Micro Enterprises - photos 2003
Childrens
schooling - photos 2003
Base house tour - downstairs - photos 2003
Base house tour - upstairs - photos 2003
YWAM Olongapo people - photos 2003
City tour - traffic 2003
2003 City tour - Markets 2003
Subic Bay - Entrance & Flags 2003
Subic Bay - Beach 2003
Subic Bay - Night Fair 2003
City tour - Monuments 2003
