Olongapo (Sambal: Syodad nin Olongapo) is the lone city (along with thirteen (13) municipalities) that comprise the province of Zambales in Central Luzon. The city is politically subdivided into seventeen (17) barangays, and is a part of the 1st Congressional District of Zambales.
Adjacent to the city is the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, which until 1992 was the largest United States naval base outside of the American mainland. After the Philippine Senate rejected an extension of a mutuual defense treaty with the United States government, then Olongapo City Mayor Richard Gordon lobbied for the turnover of the facility and its conversion into a freeport.
Much of Olongapo’s tourism is based on the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, with a pristine environment that blends white sand beaches, clear bay waters and tropical forests with a progressive business area making it a perfect model of development in harmony with nature. The freeport offers the best variety of tourism and recreational attractions in the area ~ luxurious hotels with a total of 1,662 rooms, a marina, beaches, golf greens, eco-tourism, diving sites, watersports, car and go-kart racing, motocross, trekking, mountaineering, cycling, duty-free shopping, casinos, restaurants, videoke bars and other amusement facilities.
In addition, Barrio Barreto is the city’s strip of tourism haven, where the city’s entertainment and club scene is found. Baloy Long Beach in Barreto houses the most casual resorts and bars, as well as the area’s most luxurious tourism homes. Most of the foreign nationals of Subic Bay prefer to reside in this peaceful and refreshing community.
The city is also known for it’s innovative methods of urban management in the 1980s in addressing crime and cleanliness that has been copied by local governments nationwide. These include a traffic management system involving a color-coding scheme for public utility transport, and an efficient waste management system.