Outright expulsion such as that faced by the Chagossians and other indigenous peoples has been far from the only method used by military leaders wanting to maintain control over “their” island bases after World War II. When the United States granted the Philippines independence in 1946, for instance, it did so on the condition of maintaining a ninety-nine-year rent-free lease on sixteen bases and military installations, including Subic Bay and Clark Air Base and even more bases in cases of “military necessity.” (Nationalist protest later forced revision of the agreement; in 1966, the base leases were changed to expire in 1991.) The agreement effectively continued colonial rule over the bases themselves, where the United States retained sovereignty and control over Filipino workers, criminal prosecutions, taxation, and the entire city of Olongapo, adjacent to the Subic Bay Naval Base.

David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Milit…, loc. 228