Davao City since 2003 has officially declared itself as free from U.S. Special Operations Forces and Balikatan exercises. No less than Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte has banned U.S. military personnel and Balikatan exercises from the city.

The Sisters’ Association of Mindanao (SAMIN) and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Philippine Province, have issued statements against Balikatan exercises in Mindanao, where 25 military exercises have been launched since 2002. In their statement dated Feb.14 2008, SAMIN asked, “Will U.S. troops participate in actual military operations against our people as they did in other places? Will there be another Nicole, and will our women and children again be made ‘objects’ for the U.S. soldiers’ rest and recreation?”

In the Lanao provinces, the broad multi-sectoral Ranao Crescent Against Balikatan Exercises (RACABE) has been formed and has spearheaded protest actions against the intrusions by U.S. personnel into their community. In their statement, RACABE emphasized that “the presence of U.S. troops in Lanao will be a serious threat to the ongoing peace process in Mindanao since the U.S. troops …help organize counterinsurgency groups…. On the one hand, it will awaken painful memories of the past American invasions of the Ranao areas such as the massacres in Padang Karbala of Bayang, Lanao del Sur (during the first decade of the 20th century) that almost wiped out all the able bodied men in the said municipality except for seven who were either minors or infirm, in Tugaya, Lanao del Sur and Pantar, Lanao del Norte that may trigger violent retaliatory actions against U.S. troops.”

U.S. troops are back, we are told, “to train, to assist and to advise Philippine counterparts in anti-terror operations” and, “to increase their interoperability, that is, working together with their Philippine counterparts.” The VFA Commission and Fil-Am officers in the U.S. Army who have been assigned to be their spokespersons, tell us that U.S. soldiers are here “not to fight, but to train, to conduct humanitarian missions.” But since 2002, the Mafioso in Malacañang has practically invited the U.S. military forces to intervene through unspecified “activities” in Batanes, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Aurora, Pampanga, Zambales, Cebu, Palanan, Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Basilan, Sulu, Cavite, Albay, and Camarines Sur.

AFP Acting like Security Guards to U.S. Forces and Facilities

Weeks ago, there was an interesting news item about the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police doing the work of security guards to certain mining companies in Zambales. But since 2001, the AFP has been acting like security guards to the visiting U.S. forces in the Philippines, including the Joint Special Operations Task Force – Philippines (JSOTF-P) that is now based in Camp Navarro at the Southern Command Headquarters. Other U.S. Special Forces facilities are now positioned inside Philippine army camps in Camp Malagutay, Zamboanga; in Basilan, Sulu, General Santos City and in Cotabato, among many locations. The repositioning of small U.S. military facilities inside a host country’s army or military camps is a novel idea to hide these facilities from public view and to make it appear that there are no “U.S. operating bases” in the country. Herbert Docena, in two recent excellent studies titled, UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE, and AT THE DOOR OF THE EAST (The Philippines in U.S. Military Strategy) states that U.S.government documents now describe these “U.S. operating bases” here as “Cooperative Security Locations (CLS)” which are described as military installations which have already been established in the Philippines. The U.S. Overseas Basing Commission, an official U.S. government agency that reviews U.S. overseas military infrastructure in fact considers these installations as “U.S. forward operating bases.”

Spying and “Activities” by U.S. Military & Civilian personnel

U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOFs) in uniform and in civilian clothes have also been seen in actual war zones in Mindanao and other parts of the country. P-3C Orion surveillance planes have been sited in many parts of ARMM and in certain Mindanao provinces, as well as the use of the RQ-1 Predator, the unmanned spyplanes. On Oct. 3, 2005, workers of Puregold Duty Free Shop at Clark found a crashed unmanned spy plane on their roof. The unmanned spy plane had a sticker marked, “104 Pointer Spy Plane” and was equipped with camera, recording devices and other sophisticated equipment.

U.S. SOFs who are trained for low-intensity warfare operations, are involved in what is referred to as ‘asymmetrical warfare’ in our communities they are trying to infiltrate. They combine public relations, intelligence gathering, civic action, road/infrastructure projects, psychological operations and counter-insurgency to destroy the people’s movements at the grassroots which is struggling for land, ancestral domain and social justice. These “activities” are under the guise of being part of the “war on terror”.

 Save as PDF