‘Amerasian’ children of war face poverty and stigma in Philippines
Those fathered by American soldiers experience a lonely cycle of hardship and marginalisation without parents
When the last US ship pulled out of the Philippines' Subic Bay naval base more than two decades ago, a desperate young woman's hopes of finding her father sailed away with it.
Beirut Calaguas, now 44, is among the tens of thousands of "Amerasians" fathered by US soldiers who served in the Philippines, home to the US military's biggest overseas bases until they closed down in 1992.
My heart broke. I resigned my fate to never finding my father
Like so many others, Calaguas has endured a life of discrimination and poverty, while battling the mental trauma of having been abandoned and not knowing her biological parents.
"When the Americans left, my heart broke. I resigned my fate to never finding my father," said the fair-skinned, brown-eyed Calaguas at her ramshackle home in a run-down suburb close to the former US bases.
Despite one study estimating there are as many as 250,000 Amerasians and their offspring in the Philippines, they are a largely forgotten community.
Their plight, however, is gaining fresh attention with the United States preparing to deploy thousands of soldiers back to the Philippines as part of its "pivot" to Asia.
Clark Air Base in Angeles city and the Subic naval base in nearby Olongapo - about two hours' drive north of Manila - were vital Pacific operations for the American military for half a century.