OLONGAPO, Philippines -- Some 10,000 bar girls, cigarette vendors and businessmen packed the main street of Olongapo Saturday to protest a strike against nearby Subic Bay Naval Base that has killed business in the port city.
The crowd also protested a decision by the government to oust popular Mayor Richard Gordon, a member of the KBL party of former President Ferdinand Marcos, in favor of a supporter of President Corazon Aquino in a housecleaning of local offices launched shortly after Marcos' ouster Feb. 25.
Gordon, who has refused to surrender his office until Aquino signs a dismissal order, favors negotiations to end the strike; his replacement backs the strikers' demands.
About 10,000 demonstrators crowded the main street of Olongapo outside empty clubs and bars, flashing the thumbs-up sign, carrying placards saying, 'We Love Mayor Gordon,' and chanting 'Gordon, Gordon, Long Live Gordon.'
The protesters, who included bar hostesses and dancers, marched to city hall from the main gate of Subic -- one of eight U.S. military facilities north of Manila barricaded since 24,000 Filipino workers walked off the job 10 days ago.
The strike has halted the $42 million annual cash flow from U.S. soldiers.
'I'm hungry,' said one 15-year-old dancer, dressed in shorts and a loose blouse.
The girl said she was earning the equivalent of $14 to $19 a night before the strike and as much as $97 a night during U.S. Navy port calls.
'Now it's zero. Last night, we didn't have any customers,' she said.
Olongapo, a city of 247,000 people some 50 miles northwest of Manila, rakes in an average of $100,000 a day from American servicemen during Navy port calls at Subic, home of the Seventh Fleet.
Subic commander Rear Adm. Edwin Kohn said he will cancel an upcoming port call by a U.S. Navy amphibious assault group of 4,000 Marines and sailors if strikers' barricades are still in place.
Union leaders and U.S. military officials said a fourth round of talks aimed at ending the strike ended Saturday without progress. No talks were scheduled for Easter Sunday, a Navy spokesman said.
Union leaders called the strike after negotiations on a new three-year contract collapsed when the Pentagon rejected a key severance pay demand.
