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ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Citizens Peace Watch (CPW) has challenged
authorities to allow an independent body “with
credibility and integrity” to inspect US military
facilities in this city and other parts of Mindanao.
The CPW,
a group of peace advocates monitoring the situation in
Mindanao, made the statement as it expressed “deep
concern” about the Legislative Oversight Committee on
the Visiting Forces Agreement’s (Lovfa) announcement
that “there are no US bases in this city.”
Right
after the inspection on the US forces on Thursday, the
Lovfa cochairman, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, said, “as a
former soldier, it is difficult for me to make a
conclusion that the Americans have establish their own
military base in this part of our country.”
However,
Biazon quickly said the committee has not yet made a
conclusion based on the initial findings, citing that it
will continue to evaluate the findings based on ocular
inspections.
Biazon
said the two issues that the committee is checking are
the allegations that the American troops are involved in
actual combat and if the US forces are establishing
bases in this part of the country.
So far,
Biazon said, no American soldier has been reported
killed or wounded in Mindanao, “but Filipinos, yes.”
He said
there is no truth to the allegations that the American
troops are establishing bases, citing all of the
facilities here are “administrative in nature.”
Some of
the American forces are stationed inside Camp Don
Basilio Navarro, which houses the Western Mindanao
Command headquarters; Camp General Arturo Enrile; and
Edwin Andrews Air Base, which houses the 3rd Air
Division headquarters.
“We call
for truth, full transparency and respect for the
public’s right to know,” lawyer Corazon Fabros, one of
CPW’s spokesmen, said in a statement.
“If the
US and Philippine governments have nothing to hide, then
they will allow concerned citizens to inspect and see
for themselves what’s inside the walls, concertina
wires, and sandbags enclosing the Joint Special
Operations Task Force-Philippines base inside Camp [Don
Basilio] Navarro in Zamboanga City,” she added.
Fabros
said the mere existence of the JSOTF-P base—which the
Lovfa has not denied—is in direct violation of the
Constitution.
“What
the US troops based in this base are doing in Mindanao
is a cause for concern given the situation,” she said.
In
February, the CPW attempted to inspect the JSOTF-P
facilities in a fact-finding mission to this city, and
Sulu, but was denied entry despite formal request
addressed to the authorities including the US Embassy in
Manila.
Fabros
also raised questions about the media restrictions
surrounding the Lovfa’s visit in light of reports that
only a limited number of reporters were allowed to join
the panel.
She
raised the possibility that the inspection could have
been “stage-managed,” with the US military given prior
notice so they can move out some equipment, planes, and
ships before the Lovfa’s arrival.
“If
Senator Biazon was looking for US military bases such as
the ones the US had in Subic, and Clark, then he really
was not going to find them,” said Herbert Docena, a
researcher of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global
South.
Docena
said in a separate statement that what the US now has in
this city are military bases of the new and more
sophisticated kind.
“Unlike
in the past, these bases hide within local military
bases, they don’t fly the American flag, they have more
austere facilities but are no less of a ‘base’ in their
functions,” he added.
Docena,
who claims to have personally seen the JSOTF-P base
inside Camp Navarro from the outside, maintains that
although it is far smaller than Subic and Clark, and it
is indeed within a Philippine military camp, it is still
US military base for all intents and purposes.
The
Lovfa co-chairman, Lakas Rep. Antonio Cuenco of Cebu,
called on the people or group complaining about
violations regarding the US troops’ presence to
substantiate their allegations.
“So far
we have not found any violation in so far the VFA
between the US and RP is concern,” Cuenco said. |
