GMA, A War Criminal – Int’l Court

An international tribunal found President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as guilty as U.S. President George W. Bush for committing crimes against humanity and the Iraqi people.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat

GUILTY: Participants declare their verdict on U.S. President George W. Bush, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea

“Guilty!”

This was the verdict of the International Criminal Tribunal for Iraq (ICTI) on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as an accomplice of U.S. President George W. Bush’s wars of aggression against Iraq and other countries.

Held on Oct. 16 at the Camelot Hotel in Quezon City, the ICTI public hearing was joined by prominent international jurors and prosecutors.

The ICTI is an anti-war peace movement organized by the concerned people's and peace advocates of Japan. The public hearing in Manila was the eighth of the series and the first outside Japan.

The tribunal has 200 public prosecutors from different countries in Asia. Philippine human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong acts as the chief prosecutor. In the Oct. 16 hearing, Capulong who is also Ad Litem Judge of the UN’s International Crime Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTFY) was joined by Japanese prosecutors Akiko Narumi and Narihiko Ito.

As an institution, the ICTI stands on high moral ground. In his opening remarks, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo stressed, “The ICTI may not have any legal standing among the governments but it has high moral standing among the peoples of the world who value genuine peace and justice.”

War criminal

Capulong said Macapagal-Arroyo’s support has virtually for Bush made the Philippines an unwilling partner in the U.S. wars of aggression not only against Afghanistan and Iraq but also other countries which may be attacked by the U.S.

“She herself stands guilty of violating the independence and sovereignty of these countries as well as the Philippines’ 1987 Constitution which mandates a peaceful foreign policy, its own commitment to the United Nations and to international law to use peaceful measures in resolving conflicts between nations and the prohibition of acts of aggression by one state against another,” Capulong said.

According to the ICTI, Macapagal-Arroyo allowed the use of Clark, Subic and other airfields and harbors in the Philippines including Batanes, Mactan and General Santos City in the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Through the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the U.S. and the Philippines have conducted at least 18 bilateral military exercises involving a rotating presence of about 2,000 American troops. In violation of the VFA and the Philippine Constitution, Capulong said U.S. forces were allowed to engage in combat operations against the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Moro rebels.

It may be recalled that Buyong-Buyong Isnijal, a suspected Abu Sayyaf member, was shot and seriously wounded by an American sergeant on July 25, 2002. The incident happened during U.S.-Philippine war exercises and patrol operations in Basilan province, said to be a hotbed of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap syndicate.

Moreover, the 2002 Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) allows the U.S. to stockpile its military supplies and equipment in the Philippine territory and consequently use the country’s resources for its wars of aggression in any part of the world.

Capulong added, “The flattering designation of the Philippines as a major non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally likewise facilitates the stockpiling of U.S. war material in the Philippines.”

Macapagal-Arroyo also sent a 51-member Philippine military and police contingent who served under the U.S.-led occupation forces in central Iraq.  The Philippine National Police (PNP) officers joined in the training of Iraqi police and spoke before a team of Iraqis for a seminar on “democracy.”

OFWs in combat zones

As a component of Macapagal-Arroyo’s commitment to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, she sent 4,200 overseas Filipino workers in Iraq.  Capulong said that these Filipino workers are in fact performing essential logistics and auxiliary services for the coalition forces that are normally done by combatants.

Concepcion Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante International, said that Macapagal-Arroyo’s all-out support for the war in Iraq has already caused the death of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Among those killed in U.S. military camps were Rodrigo Reyes, Raul Carlos Flores and Raymond Natividad. Another OFW, Jing Soliman, was wounded.

Bragas-Regalado also said Macapagal-Arroyo’s support endangers the lives of 1.5 million OFWs in the entire Middle East. A global alliance of 95 Filipino migrant organizations in 22 country states and cities, Migrante International filed a complaint before the ICTI.

Capulong said the deployment of OFWs in Iraq violates the Philippine government’s labor-export policy which states that OFWs may only be deployed in peaceful and secure countries and only for employment.

Robbing money from OFWs

Migrante International also said the Macapagal-Arroyo administration robbed the money of OFWs entrusted to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

 In March 2003, Macapagal-Arroyo approved the release of $293,500 from OWWA. The said money was allegedly intended for the “preparatory activities of Kuwait and six other posts on the U.S.-Iraq crisis.” Another P5 million ($88,786.29, based on an exchange rate of P56.315 per US dollar) was released from OWWA in May 2003.

Bragas-Regalado demanded an impartial investigation of what she described as illegal disbursement of OWWA funds. She stressed that Macapagal-Arroyo, then Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo must be prosecuted for the loss of OFW funds as support to Iraq war.

American immunity

The ICTI also held Macapagal-Arroyo accountable for making the entire Philippine territory a haven for American war criminals through the RP-U.S. Non-Surrender Agreement. In May 2003, Macapagal-Arroyo granted the U.S. forces in the Philippines immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In so doing, Capulong said Macapagal-Arroyo violated the Rome Statute that established the ICC and the VFA itself.

The chief prosecutor recalled the criminal acts of U.S. military personnel in the Philippines when the U.S. military bases were still here. These acts included homicide, assault, physical injuries, rape, malicious mischief, possession of marijuana and other prohibited drugs.

From December 1985 to December 1986, 258 cases were filed against U.S. troops in Olongapo courts. Of these cases, however, three were archived and one resulted in an acquittal.  During the same period, in Angeles City, out of 43 criminal cases, three were dismissed.  Nine were classified as “pending arrest” since the accused were flown by U.S. authorities to another country.

Social costs

Emmie de Jesus, secretary general of Gabriela, also filed a complaint before the ICTI.  She said women are the most affected in the U.S. wars of aggression.

De Jesus said that prostitution is prevalent in areas where American soldiers are present.  In the 1990s before the repeal of the Military Bases Agreement (MBA), there were 2,000 establishments for “rest and recreation.” 

Cases of sexual abuse were filed but later on dismissed. From 1981 to 1988, there were 15 cases of sexual abuse which involved women aged 11 to 16. Eighty-two more cases of sexual abuse involved women aged 16 and above.

In 2001, two years after the ratification of the VFA, there were 429 new bar girls in Angeles City who provided “take-home service,” an apparent euphemism for prostitution. In 2002, Tanikala Inc., documented 36 women, as young as 13 years old, who were victims of sex trafficking from Davao to Zamboanga City, the latter reportedly having as many as 2,000 prostituted women.

Sexually-transmitted diseases were widespread particularly in Angeles and Olongapo where there were about 50,000 “hospitality girls” at the peak of the Vietnam war.  It was also in these cities where AIDS infection cases were first reported in the Philippines.

De Jesus also decried another “souvenir” left by the American soldiers: Amerasians. According to her, tens of thousands of sons and daughters of American soldiers were left for good by their fathers.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Macapagal-Arroyo was the first leader in the region to pledge all-out support for Bush. In October 2001, Bush declared the Philippines as the second front in the global war on terror. Bulatlat

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