Customer Reviews

Looted: The Philippines After the Bases (International Herald Tribune)

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Mr. Kirk's overall description of life in the PI is good and I agree with most of his points. But I'm puzzled why he portrayed convicted US Air Force Major (select) Chen Almacen as a victim of an Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) witch hunt. A convenient scapegoat? Racism? I think not.

Almacen's illegal activities, which at minimum were tacitly approved by his supervisor, were well known to many at Clark Air Base. During the closing months of the US presence at Clark AB honest, hardworking security police personnel approached the OSI and complained of Almacen's blatant, dishonest activities. The subsequent two year investigation and his conviction by a military court-martial clearly substantiated Almacen's illegal actions. In my opinion, he was carefully setting himself up for a post retirement job as a DOD civilian employee managing the base Filipino DOD Guard Force. Unfortunately for Almacen, Mt. Pinatubo derailed his plans. The OSI investigation was very thorough and impartial, and went to great lengths to cut through the smoke and mirrors Mr. Kirk accurately depicts within the Philippine culture. To portray the investigation in any other light is pure, unadulterated caribou dung.

This is a must read for anyone who would like a deeper understanding of the Philippines. In my 8 years in Manila, I had the opportunity to travel extensively and frequently throughout the island nation. While I appreciate the wonders and potentials of the country I have seen its darker perimeters in many forms. Don Kirk has done a masterful job of research and reporting. There are of course two sides to everything and, when it involves Asia, it is difficult for the casual or transient observer to see beyond what they believe they understand. Author/Correspondent Don Kirk is clearly not a casual transient observer.

I have decided to write this review in a quite unorthodox manner, that being I have NOT yet read the book Looted but wanted to post a comment defending my former career as an OSI Investigator. I am a USAF Veteran of 20 years (1977-1998) with nearly 6 of those years as a Special Agent assigned to OSI District 42 at Clark Air Base and 13 years total as an OSI, Special Agent. As a relatively young agent working in the Philippines (24 yrs old), I worked with many local Philippine police and law enforcement agencies in a myriad of investigative capacities. During those years leading up to the tragedy of Mount Pinatubo, Major Almacen's name was commonly heard (and known) to be associated with criminal activities in/around the base. I primarily worked in the counter-narcotics arena and heard his name numerous times as being involved in theft activities from the base. Even at a young age I was personally offended that an Air Force officer would be involved in criminal activity while on active duty. In addition, for anyone to assert that OSI did not conduct a fair and thorough criminal investigation of Mr. Almacen is a total misrepresentation of the truth. OSI has always been (and remains) the premier investigative agency throughout the Air Force and operates in many countries throughout the world. This could NOT happen if we conducted anything but excellence in our investigations. More specifically, I worked with Special Agent Hannaman at Clark for years and can personally attest to his professionalism as a federal agent and Air Force officer. I'm anxious to read the authors account of Mr. Almacen's life as a criminal and feel releived that someone who would disgrace the Air Force would finally be locked up for his offenses. (Special Agent Tomi J. Kingi, retired)

As an American who has lived in the Philippines for 20 years, I enjoyed the author's, Mr Kirk's, rendition of the background to and events attending the US military's turnover of the bases to the Philippine government. The looting that took place around Clark AFB was blatant and horrendous and the author did justice to the facts. One of the sources that Mr Kirk used was a friend of mine, Frank Hilliard. Mr Kirk borrowed the "History of Camp John Hay" (by Laubenthal) from Hilliard and did not return this book, which is long out of print and impossible to replace. Mr Hilliard therefore requests that the Mr Kirk return the book forthwith, c/o the Hotel where he met and interviewed Mr Hilliard.