| PITAK
No to Balikatan Extension, MLSA
Protest Groups Mark Independence Day
with Call for US Troop Pullout
By Alfred
A. Araya Jr.
CyberDyaryo,
June 12, 2002
AS
THE nation marks the 104th commemoration of the declaration
of Philippine independence today, and amid the grief brought about
by the death of two Abu Sayyaf hostages in southern Philippines,
civil society coalitions formed to oppose the deployment of United
States troops here are urging their countrymen to look into government’s
plans to further "expand and extend" the American soldiers’
stay in the country.
After
being overtaken by other issues that have grabbed the public’s attention,
the protest groups are reviving their call for the immediate pullout
of US troops, a campaign they have been waging since the issue of
the five-month old US-RP Balikatan joint military exercises in southern
Philippines turned up in January.
Crying
out now
"June
12, Independence Day, is an opportune time for President Arroyo
and the country’s top policy-makers to reflect on the meaning of
independence in the light of renewed US military presence in the
Philippines," said Bishop Alan Ray Sarte, convenor of Cry Out
Now! (Church People Cry: Out with US Troops Now!), a member of the
broad coalition Out Now! (Out With US Troops Now!)
"If
she will not backtrack on her all-out efforts to welcome additional
US troops, President Arroyo will continue leading a celebration
of fake independence on June 12," Sarte noted.
The
church-based group, which concludes today a two-day national conference
in Manila to reflect on and assess the training exercises in Basilan
and Zamboanga, will join Out Now!’s main alternative activity to
the annual government-sponsored Independence Day celebration.
Dubbed
"Parade for Genuine Freedom," the OUT Now! protest parade
will start in Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila at 10A.M. and march towards
the US embassy on Roxas Boulevard where they will hold a program.
The activity is expected to be attended by some 2,000 participants.
Gathering
for Peace
Meanwhile,
groups under another broad coalition formed against US presence
in the country called Gathering for Peace (GFP) are holding separate
actions today. The Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya, a member
of the coalition, said it is also set to hold a protest action in
front of the US embassy in the morning.
While
offering their sympathies to the families of slain Abu Sayyaf hostages
Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap, the coalition raised
questions that they said have yet to be answered.
"What
was the level of US participation in the failed rescue operations?
What really transpired during the operations, which eventually lead
to the death of the two hostages and the injury to Gracia Burnham?
Questions have to be raised as to how the bandits were able to extricate
themselves from the tight cordon of the combined might of US and
Philippine forces in Basilan," the group said.
Martin
Burnham and Ediborah Yap were killed June 7 in the firefight between
members of the Abu Sayyaf and the military near the town of Siraway,
Zamboanga del Norte, away from the island of Basilan, where the
Abu Sayyaf was believed to be holed up.
‘An
excuse for the extension and expansion of Balikatan’
Amid
these unanswered questions, GFP, in a June 12 statement, said, "Already,
the government is using the tragic loss of innocent lives as an
excuse for the extension and expansion of Balikatan and the conduct
of future military offensives in Mindanao."
The
groups in the coalition allege that their own "speculations"
and "paranoia" that Filipino and US officials could be
hatching plans to extend the July deadline of Balikatan 02-1 and
expand coverage in other parts of the country, are beginning to
sound plausible.
"Yung
speculations on our part ay hindi na (Those speculations on
our part are no longer speculations)," said former congressman
Wigberto Tañada, GFP lead convenor, during a general assembly of
GFP groups a few days earlier.
The
group took issue with the US’ "requests" to extend the
exercises and the Arroyo administration’s reported endorsement of
the idea, using the reported approval of the people of Basilan as
a justification for the extension.
The
terms of reference (TOR) of Balikatan 02-1 mandates that the training
exercise in Basilan should end in July. It limits the number of
US troops in Basilan and Zamboanga to 660, and prohibits US soldiers
from engaging in combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf bandits.
In
line with further US presence in the country, Out Now! and GFP also
aired opposition to a Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA)
being cooked up by Filipino and US officials. The proposed MLSA
would allow the US to set up storage facilities in the country in
exchange for military assistance.
‘A
willing US puppet’?
"Perfunctory
patriotic acts like raising the tricolor on June 12, or wrapping
herself with it, cannot erase the fact that President Arroyo is
a willing US puppet as proven by her over-eager endorsement of the
MLSA and Balikatan extension, the latest euphemisms for more permanent
US presence and renewed US basing rights in the Philippines," said
Bayan spokesperson and Out Now! convenor Renato M. Reyes Jr. in
a statement.
Reyes
said, "Arroyo would again have a hard time acting like a patriot
on June 12, in the same way that she became the butt of jokes after
proclaiming herself Ina ng Bayan or the Iron Lady."
Reyes
said the protest parade today will be marked by "anti-Arroyo [and]
anti-US intervention floats" that will feature the President as
"Uncle Sam’s cheerleader".
The
apparent negotiations for the extension and expansion of Balikatan
02-1 and the conduct of other joint military training exercises
in the country, according to GFP’s June 12 statement, "affirm
what we have been saying all along ... The real intent of these
so-called training exercises is to re-establish a more strategic
US presence in the country and in Asia under the mantle of the global
campaign against terrorism."
Filipino
officials and US have maintained that the training exercises between
the armed forces of the two countries are important to improve each
other’s capabilities. The anti-US coalitions, however, only see
the moves as an affront to national sovereignty.
According
to the GFP, "Opening even the possibility for a foreign country
to define matters central to our national integrity, such as peace
and order, strikes at the heart of our national independence and
sovereignty that our heroes fought long and hard for."
-- CyberDyaryo
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