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Protest Caravan to Greet Opening of Second U.S. War Games

A protest caravan is being held as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the extension of U.S. special forces’ operation in Basilan and the arrival of at least 200 more reportedly to conduct civic action projects on that southern Philippine island.

By BULATLAT.COM

Fort Magsaysay in Laur, a remote town in Nueva Ecija several kilometers from Metro Manila, will host Balikatan 02-2, a “joint war exercise” involving some 2,000 American troops and thousands of their Filipino counterparts.

On April 22, a Monday, a caravan of several vehicles with hundreds of protesters on board will drive to Laur as a sign of protest against the war games which are also slated to begin on the same day.

The protest caravan, which will kick off 8 a.m. at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, will be led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan – New Patriotic Alliance), party-list Bayan Muna, Kilusang Mayo Uno and Gebriela.

The vehicle-ferried protesters will merge with more than 2,000 local residents in Cabanatuan City, caravan organizers said Saturday. From there, the protesters will proceed to Laur where a rally will be held at 2 p.m. on the same day.

The protest caravan is being held as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the extension of U.S. special forces’ operationw in Basilan and the arrival of at least 200 more reportedly to conduct civic action projects on that southern Philippine island.

The “civic action projects” including road-building, have been criticized however as part of the war exercises and serve as infrastructure to facilitate U.S.’ armed intervention. A leader of a militant group noted that “civic projects” will be used as a pretext for the next phase of the Balikatan operations: the New People’s Army (NPA). As more areas in the Philippines – particularly remote, unpaved upland areas that are well within the guerrilla zones of the leftist NPA – are identified for similar projects, the possibility is not remote for U.S. forces to escalate their armed presence to include the guerrillas as legitimate target.

Basilan is where remnants of the Abu Sayyaf extremist band are reportedly holed in and where an American missionary couple and a Filipino are being held hostage. Last week, reports revealed that Washington officials have been involved in a ransom deal with the Abu Sayyaf through their Philippine contacts and it’s only a matter of time when the hostages would be released.

Another agenda

This is one reason, protest caravan organizers told the press, why the presence of U.S. special forces in Basilan – and war games – should be held suspect and that the Americans, along with Arroyo, are not telling the whole truth.

The increase in the number of U.S. forces arriving in the Philippines has raised concerns among militant groups that Pentagon plans to regain its military foothold in the country in one form or another, using U.S. President George Bush’s “war on terrorism” as justification.

Reacting to newspaper reports Saturday that the Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises are supported by many Filipinos, Teodoro Casiño, secretary-general of Bayan, said “popularity is not everything.” "Our campaign is meant precisely to address the many misconceptions that still abound regarding U.S. military presence in the country," he said.

Casiño said that patriotic groups in the country “are used to starting out as a minority.” “We started as a minority against the Marcos and Estrada regimes and against the U.S. military bases, and yet we achieved victory," he said. The broad anti-bases struggle in the ‘70s-‘80s culminated in the phase-out of the U.S. bases when the Senate in 1991 heeded the popular clamor to dismantle the bases by rejecting the proposed extension of the military facilities.

Nuclear missiles

In 1997, a declassified report by Pentagon confirmed reports that the bases had installed deadly nuclear weapons and that U.S. warships were also nuclear-armed.

The current protests against the growing U.S. presence in the country are also in opposition to the use of live ammunition and live targets that even go against bilateral agreements and against the possible use of some areas in the Philippines for testing weapons of mass destruction. Threats of toxic contamination have also been raised.

Casiño said that patriotic Filipinos will fight the growing U.S. armed presence “tooth and nail.” “Presidential whim and caprice cannot legalize the trampling of national sovereignty and the pimping of Filipino women for U.S. troops,” he said.

The Bayan leader joined Emmi de Jesus, Gabriela deputy secretary-general, in warning against the “all-out prostitution that will accompany the arrival of U.S. troops” particularly in Basilan and Central Luzon as they castigated Malacañang’s approval of “night-outs” for the American military personnel.

They called Arroyo as “Uncle Sam’s political prostitute doubling as pimp for Filipino women.”

“We can expect the revival of prostitution dens and rings and subsequent assaults on women and children
that happen when U.S. servicemen are allowed to go out and get themselves drunk” in their nocturnal search for cheap sex, warned Casiño.

“This is not farfetched when night spots, the prices of beer and ladies’ drinks, and bar schedules were among the matters discussed in the so-called cultural sensitivity orientation given the U.S. troops upon their arrival at Clark Airfield,” he added.

“Cultural sensitivity orientation” briefings are being held by personnel of the social welfare department, headed by Secretary Dinky Soliman. Bulatlat.com

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