Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 2, Number 33 September 22 - 28, 2002 Quezon City, Philippines |
Reunion Slams U.S. War on Iraq, MLSA Veterans
of the 1991 anti-bases treaty struggle and young activists gathered at a reunion
on Sept. 16 in U.P. Diliman to remember the historic dismantling of U.S.
military bases in the country. All agreed that the struggle has not ended amid
signs that the bases would be reinstalled and a new war looms in the Middle
East. By
Gerry Albert-Corpuz Anti-bases
activists who remembered the historic rejection of the 1991Philippine-U.S. Bases
Treaty 11 years ago found themselves uniting for a common cause against the
proposed Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement (MLSA) and the looming war of
the United States against Iraq. This
was the general sentiment among some 2,000 people who gathered at the Bahay ng
Alumni inside the U.P. Diliman Campus in Quezon City to reflect and relive the
Filipino people's rejection of the new bases treaty agreement on Sept. 16,1991. Vice-President
Teofisto Guingona, Jr., keynote speaker, delivered another scathing remark
against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over her proposal allowing the United
States to use the country's airspace when its war against Iraq erupts into a
full-blown crisis. Guingona,
who had been in disagreement with the president on the Balikatan war exercises
and the controversial MLSA, said the Filipino people and the Macapagal-Arroyo
government should reject the U.S.' culture of war and its “first-strike”
policy against Iraq. Instead
of supporting the U.S. war on Iraq, Guingona urged Maacapagal-Arroyo to submit
the international agreement that would lead to the establishment of the
International Criminal Court of Justice to the Philippine Senate for
concurrence. The
ICCJ, Guingona said, has been signed by 120 countries including the Philippines
and the United States but it needs ratification by the Senate before it takes
effect. If ratified by Senate, the international court will assume jurisdiction
over perpetrators charged with committing war crimes, genocide, torture and
other forms of unlawful death and destruction against civilian populace. (U.S.
President George W. Bush threatened to withdraw the U.S. signature and its
non-ratification if the treaty does not grant immunity to its armed forces.)
MLSA
to Senate Bayan
Muna party list Rep. Satur Ocampo, one of the organizers of the reunion, said he
and his colleagues Crispin Beltran and Liza Maza are set to file a resolution in
the House that will force Macapagal-Arroyo to reveal the content of the MLSA and
have the basing pact discussed in the Senate and in public debates. "Given
its broad provisions, the MLSA is actually a treaty and should have the Senate's
concurrence and not be treated as a mere executive agreement as Malacañang
insisted," Ocampo said. He stressed that MLSA even went beyond the
parameters of military activities defined in the 1951Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)
and the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The
militant solon insisted that "public interest requires full transparency
and disclosure about any policy or agreement that directly affects the
sovereignty and security of the country. Former
Sen. Wigberto " Bobby" Tañada backed calls for the Senate to assert
its jurisdiction over the MLSA saying the "Philippine Senate should be
given the Constitutional prerogative to lay down the final verdict on a new pact
that appears dictated by what is convenient to Americans, not what is beneficial
to the Filipino people.” Tañada who in 1991 rallied the “Magnificent 12” in nailing down the bases treaty, said "the importance of Sept. 16, 1991 is fundamentally about self-respect and self determination and upholding the Constitutional tenets on sovereignty, national integrity, demilitarization and denuclearization." The
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and
the fisherfolk group Pamalakaya meanwhile cautioned anti-bases activists that
the MLSA would be ready for signing next month in time for the next Balikatan
exercises. "The
MLSA draft has not been shown to the public for thorough debates and
discussions. President Arroyo and her bunch of U.S.-bred officials have been
adopting a policy of secrecy to causing people to speculate and end up in
endless guessing game," said KMP national chair Rafael Mariano. Pamalakaya
national chair Fernando Hicap, on the other hand, said the Macapagal-Arroyo camp
cannot keep the MLSA a secret forever and the Filipino people will find other
ways of discovering this crime against national sovereignty. "These escape
artists cannot run away from their responsibility and accountability to the
people. Puppetry has a price," he warned. Memories
"We
were in third year high school when the Filipino people defied all odds and
succeeded in convincing 12 senators to throw the lopsided agreement in the
dustbin of history," said Apolinario Alvarez, national chair of the
militant youth group Anakbayan. The
youth leader remembered how he and his activist peers organized their classmates
and schoolmates for the anti-bases cause. "Patriotism was so high even
among high school youths then, we were glad we became part of that glorious past
against imperialist America," Alvarez reminisced. KMP
national staff Amy Avila smiled when she saw her picture sporting a clenched
fist while singing Bayan Ko ( My Country) in the midst of heavy rain in front of
the Old Senate Building (now National Museum) in Manila courtesy of Gabriela's
photo exhibit displayed during the reunion proper. "We
were all wet and the rains did not stop from pouring heavy drops but I still
managed to carry Bayan Ko's patriotic lyrics and tune," she said. Avila at
that time was a member of the PUP-based League of Filipino Students and a senior
tourism student. Her
friend and contemporary Cecille Ripalda, staff of Pamalakaya, also remembered
where she was during that day. "I was there," pointing to Avila's
direction. She noticed some familiar faces but she couldn't recall their names
anymore. She said the PUP community delivered over 10,000-strong contingent to
the Sept. 16 anti-US bases rally. "We
went around the school doing room-to-room campaigns to convince PUP students to
go out and make their stand hours before the historic vote on proposed bases
agreement," she remembered. Hogwash
Meanwhile,
Teddy Casiño, Bayan secretary general, dismissed Press Secretary Iganicio
Bunye's claims that the government will not support the U.S. war on Iraq as
hogwash. "President Arroyo's decision to evacuate Filipinos sends a louder
message and it tells George Bush that he can bomb the hell out of Iraq as long
as the Filipinos are out of the way," he added. Casiño
and other Bayan leaders led the march-rally from the Old Senate building to U.S.
embassy in Manila to commemorate the Sept. 16 rejection of the bases treaty and
denounce the U.S. pending war on Iraq. "Eleven
years after the Senate decision to abrogate the bases treaty, Mrs. Arroyo is
slowly but surely bringing us back to the pre-Sept. 16, 1991 era of the U.S.
military bases and blatant U.S. intervention in Philippine affairs," Casiño
charged. The
Bayan leader said Malacanang Palace wanted to take part in an unjustified and
unprovoked war against Iraq which the Philippines has cordial relations.
"No to the MLSA, no to the war on Iraq, that is our message on this
historic day," Casino stressed. Scientist-activist
Dr. Giovanni Tapang, chair of Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan
( Science and Technology for the People) said the United States is the
biggest threat to world peace because of its gigantic cache of weapons of mass
destruction. Tapang
castigated the Bush administration for claiming to be after Iraq's
weapons-making capability. "The United States is the biggest and most
profiteering maker and user of nuclear, chemical, biological and conventional
weapons," he said. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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