Asia Times: Bad memories haunt new military pact with U.S.



	May 26, 1999	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Bad memories haunt new military pact with U.S.
By Ivan Gan

MANILA - History and bad memories from the yearsthe Philippines hosted U.S. military bases are haunting debatesahead of this week's Senate vote on a new military agreementbetween Manila and Washington.

The accord, called the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), wassigned in February 1998 under the previous president, Fidel Ramos,who found acceptance of the pact politically difficult.

It is only now coming to a vote in the Senate, whichratifies treaties and agreements dealing with the presence offoreign troops on Philippine soil. A vote is expected by May 27.

Just as a furor erupted with the accord's signing lastyear, so have activists and some Catholic leaders continued tooppose the VFA, which would allow the U.S. military to holdexercises with their Filipino counterparts.

They claim that the agreement, though it does not provide for a returnof U.S. military bases, will lead to a return of the political,environmental and social costs the country paid for hosting theU.S. bases for nearly a century until Manila ended their lease in1991.

Despite opposition, media reports say at least 18 of 24 senators areexpected to vote for ratification of the agreement. Ratificationcomes with a two-thirds vote.

''It's all over but the counting,'' analyst Raul Palabrica saidin the Philippine Daily Inquirer. President JosephEstrada, who as a senator in 1991 voted to end the bases' stay, isnow lobbying for approval of the VFA.

Senators who support the VFA say that it is important to thePhilippines at a time when the country is short of funds for militarymodernization and faced with security threats.

Senate President Pro Tempore Blas Ople said, ''The Philippinesecurity alliance with the U.S. will annex to our side the globalforces of democracy with their superior arsenals and firepower."

The Philippines has been engulfed by a sense of vulnerability, heightened by China's encroachment into islets the Philippines holds in theSpratly islands in the South China Sea, since the U.S.withdrawal from bases in 1992.

In the political chill after the bases pullout, Manila'smilitary ties with Washington, including its preferentialpurchases of defense equipment, virtually ended.

Only in more recent years have U.S. ships made port calls, andthe VFA's approval would allow the U.S. a more normalrelationship with Manila, Admiral Dennis Blair, head of the U.S.Pacific Command, said over the weekend.

But critics think otherwise. Roland Simbulan, chair of theNuclear Free Philippines Coalition (NFPC), says the VFA fails toaddress the major flaws of the former base treaty.

It ''violates the constitutional ban on nuclear weapons;''''has no environmental provisions;'' and ''has no provisions toaddress social problems that accompany U.S. military presence thatvictimize women and children,'' he explains.

Simbulan says Manila should demand clear provisions to certifythat visiting U.S. warships do not carry nuclear weapons; as of right now, there is only a verbal assurance by Washington that is''insufficient.'' Officially, the U.S. has a ''neither-confirm-nor-deny'' policy regarding nuclear weapons.

Often, however, constitutional and legalistic wrangling overthe VFA in debates among senators has overshadowed theenvironmental and social effects that critics say are among thestrongest arguments against the pact.

A recent study at Clark Air Base in Pampanga province, north ofManila, has indicated the presence of mercury and nitrate wastesfar above the standard levels of deemed safe by the World Health Organization(WHO).

According to a report by Dr. Renante Basas, chief of theCommission on Human Rights' forensic office, 29 people at aresettlement center at Clark Field suffered from ailments -central nervous system disorders, kidney disorder and cyanosis -due to mercury and nitrate elements found at Clark, which was abandoned by the U.S. in 1991.

An earlier study by Clearwater Revival Company, a U.S.-basedenvironmental consulting firm, revealed that Subic Bay has alsobeen contaminated by lead, unexploded ordnance and oil.

Pro-VFA parties say that the U.S. military would be present onlyduring military exercises and Senator Rodolfo Biazon says theynormally last four to seven days.

But as Aileen Villar, an advocacy officer with the People's Task Force for Bases Clean-up, pointed out, ''we are not sure if they will just stay here for militaryexercises. There is no assurance, as the VFA agreement is toovague."

''With 22 commercial ports in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanaobeing considered as U.S. military access points, the agreementwould open up the whole Philippines to unprecedented U.S. militarypresence,'' warned a task force report.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the committee on environment andnatural resources, adds that the U.S. cannot be expected to adhereto environmental laws as it refused to provide information on theenvironmental damage in Clark and Subic naval base.

Biazon, who supports the VFA, admits it lacks environmentalprovisions but says all exercises have an ''environmentalprotection plan'' requiring military personnel to observeenvironmental practices.

But, Legarda says, the Philippines cannot take ''applicable legalaction'' if its environmental standards are violated.

Groups representing women and children also assert that thepresence of U.S. troops would exacerbate social ills and crimerates, warning in a statement that this presence would open ''thefloodgates to commercial sexual exploitation of young women andchildren."

During the years the U.S. bases were in the Phillipines, a commercial sexindustry sprang up in areas surrounding bases to cater toservicemen on ''rest and recreation."

The VFA also gives the U.S. legal jurisdiction over actionsby its military personnel here. Critics say this jursdiction allowedservicemen to get away with offenses under the old basing treaty.

''U.S. military commanders used the Official Duty Certificate to provide sanctuary to erring U.S. soldiers,'' Simbulannoted. ''From 1947 to 1991, of more than 3,000 reported crimescommitted by U.S. troops on Philippine territory, not a singlecase has led to the Philippine prosecution and sentencing of anAmerican soldier."

Activists say they will not give up even if the VFA isratified by the Senate.

Glen Amoroso, secretary-general of the advocacy group NewNationalist Alliance, says VFA opponents will be conducting massdemonstrations against U.S. warships, aircraft and personnel whoarrive for military activities.

(Inter Press Service)

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