Filipino people say no
Reject joint war maneuvers with U.S.
By John Catalinotto
The U.S. and Philippines governments have been
trying to use the excuse of the "war on terror" to reintroduce
Pentagon forces into the islands. At each step they run into
increased opposition from the people of the former U.S.
colony.
It was reported by the Philippines press that on June 2,
popular resistance had forced the postponement of the latest
scheduled joint military exercises.
Until an erupting volcano and a mass protest threw them out
in 1991, U.S. forces inhabited two major military bases on the
major Philippines island of Luzon. These were Subic Bay Naval
Base and Clark Air Base, which saw its first U.S. troops in
1901 and became the largest U.S. land base in the world. Both
were used heavily during the war on Vietnam.
After the bases were closed, the Filipino people made it
part of their constitution that U.S. troops would not be
stationed on their national territory.
In the days following Sept. 11, 2001, the government of
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was one of the first to throw
in support behind the Bush administration. Throughout this
winter and spring the Pentagon and the Philippines Armed Forces
have increased joint operations. In April they carried out
joint military exercises and U.S. troops entered both the old
bases.
U.S. "advisors" have been training Filipino troops who are
hunting down the Abu Sayyaf organization in the southern
Philippines. When Macapagal-Arroyo made a state visit to
Washington for four days, beginning May 19, Bush promised to
carry out another joint operation known as the Balikatan
exercises. The two leaders vowed to crush the Abu Sayyaf group
"once and for all."
Bush offers $30 million in warfare goods
Bush also offered $30 million in new aid for training and
equipping the Philippine armed forces, and 20 UH-1H
helicopters. The Philippines government, representing only the
few wealthy Filipinos, looks to the U.S. to save it from
insurgencies it faces--and not from the Abu Sayyaf group, which
is relatively insignificant.
Philippine popular organizations consider Abu Sayyaf to be
simply a bandit group, without a political program. With only a
few hundred fighters and no popular support, Abu Sayyaf would
of course be doomed in a serious military battle with Filipino
and U.S. troops.
But there are two legitimate liberation movements with
popular followings that both Manila and Washington are really
targeting. One is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),
with 12,500 fighters in the South. The Philippines armed forces
are currently waging an offensive against the MILF, without
success.
The other movement is the New People's Army (NPA), whose
political organization is the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP). A leading organization in the NDFP is the
Communist Party of the Philippines. The NPA and the MILF have a
united front against the government.
These groups represent serious popular insurgencies that can
challenge the pro-U.S. government in Manila. Prospero Pichay,
head of the armed forces committee in the Philippines House of
Representatives, says the U.S. aid "will be welcome assistance.
If we have to modernize the armed forces using local funds, we
will not be able to modernize it at all."
With the Abu Sayyaf story so obviously a ploy, Washington
and Manila are looking for a better way to justify the joint
exercises. On May 31 the New York Times ran a front-page story
not only on Abu Sayyaf but also on alleged connections between
the MILF and al-Qaeda. It quoted unnamed "intelligence
officials" from assorted countries on the Pacific rim who
described in vivid detail alleged MILF explosives training
camps.
Filipinos don't buy story
Whether or not this story convinced anyone in the U.S. is
yet to be seen. It failed miserably in Sulu in the southern
Philippines.
According to a story in the Manila Times of June 2, "Sulu
residents opposed hosting the Balikatan exercises when they
learned that U.S. soldiers would take part in combat against
the Abu Sayyaf.
"Sulu officials also said that residents remain resentful of
foreigners a century after suffering at the hands of American
soldiers in the pacification campaign during the
Filipino-American War." That war followed the 1898
Spanish-American war and wiped out about 600,000 Filipinos, who
fought the U.S. occupation for 17 years.
Philippines Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said on June 2
that the Balikatan war games scheduled for June will be
postponed while the "terms of reference"--the relation of the
U.S. troops to the Filipino troops--are sorted out.
Reprinted from the June 12, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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