BASES WASTE VIOLATED FILIPINOS RIGHTS--CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE--The
toxic legacy of theUS military in two bases in the Philippines violates
the basic right of Filipinos to live in a clean and healthy environment,
the United States Catholic Mission Association of the US Conference of
Catholic Bishops said in a resolution.
The USCMA said its Philippine commitment was in line with the Jubilee
year’s respect and compassion for the people and the environment that
continue to suffer from the US no-cleanup policy.
It said the refusal of the United States to take responsibility for their
toxic legacy in the Philippines violated international law, including the
Stockholm Declaration, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child, and the Rio Declaration.
Until their closure in 1992, the former Clark Air Base in Pampanga and
Subic Naval Base in Zambales were the largest American military facilities
overseas.
In operation for nearly 100 years, these bases were used for the Korean
and Vietnam wars and for the US role in the Gulf region, the association
said.
But even amid a strong clamor in the Philippines and in the United States,
the American government continued to shoot down proposals for an
environmental cleanup, saying the expired Philippine-US Military Bases
Agreement had no provisions for such.
The American government was looking at a liability of $325 billion for the
cleanup of 325 bases it closed outside the United States, Republican Sen.
Richard Lugar earlier told Philippine Sen. Sergio Osmeña III.
Despite the absence of legal obligations, the Philippine government and
non-governmental groups have demanded moral responsibility from the United
States, citing more than 100 cases of deaths from diseases linked to
hazardous chemicals disposed of and left in the former base land.
Studies made by the US government, the World Health Organization and
environmental firms have confirmed that nearly 50 sites were tainted with
poisonous solvents, asbestos, mercury, lead, polychlorinated bi-phenyls,
unexploded bombs and other harmful substances.
It said the cleanup was necessary because the Philippines, a long-time ally
of the United States, has neither the technical nor the financial resources
to conduct an extensive cleanup of Clark and Subic.
The association also said "environmental injustice"was committed against
the people near the two bases, noting that the United States spent millions
of dollars in its cleanup activities in bases in richer and industrialized
nations like Japan, Canada and various countries in Europe.Inquirer.11-7-00
HIGH COURT RULES VFA CONSTITUTIONAL: The Supreme Court (SC), in effect,
declared constitutional yesterday the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)
between the Philippines and the United States (US) ratified by President
Estrada in 1998 and concurred in by the Senate in an 18-5 vote in 1999.
In a decision written by Associate Justice Arturo Buena, the High Court
ruled that both President Estrada and the members of the Senate did not
abuse their discretion in the signing and the ratification of the
agreement.
And since there was no abuse of discretion, the High Court said the issue
on the VFA becomes a political question and it is "without power to conduct
an incursion and meddle with such affairs purely executive and legislative
in character and nature."
With the ruling, the High Court dismissed the five petitions challenging
the constitutionality of the VFA, that, in effect, declared the agreement
constitutional.
Among other things, the VFA would allow US troops access to the Philippines
for the purpose of joint military exercises. With the ratification of the
VFA by the Senate in 1999, Filipino and American troops have conducted
joined military exercises since the Supreme Court did not issue a
restraining order that would have stopped temporarily its implementation.
Shortly after the Senate ratified the VFA in May, 1999, five petitions were
filed with the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the
agreement.
The petitions were led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, the Philippine
Constitution Association, Sen. Teofisto Guingona Jr., the Integrated Bar of
the Philippines, and former senator Jovito Salonga.
In the case of lawmakers who filed the petitions, Galvez said, "they do not
have standing to maintain the present suit in as much as no power to
Congress has been impaired by the VFA."
The petitions raised almost identical issues on the alleged constitutional
infirmity: the VFA should have been ratified under Section 25,
Article XVIII, and not under Section 21, Article VII of the Constitution.
Both in the earlier petition that had been dismissed by the High Court for
prematurity, and in the case they filed after the ratification of the
agreement, the legislators claimed that the VFA should have been considered
by the senate under Article 25, Section XVIII of the Constitution.
They said that besides the 2/3 vote of the members of the Senate, Section
25, Article XVIII of the Constitution requires confirmation of the VFA by
a majority vote of the people in a referendum.
Bagong Alyansa claimed that the VFA surrendered Philippine sovereignty to
the US and abandoned criminal jurisdiction over US military and civilian
personnel.
It also said that the VFA, as ratified, diluted the Supreme Court's power
to review heinous crimes cases, violated the constitutional process on the
grant of tax exemptions, and created a "special class" of persons immune
from criminal liability.
All the petitioners claimed that the VFA will affect the status and
treatment of Filipinos in their own country "and the status and treatment
of our concept of nationhood."
They pointed out that the VFA "was not based on relationship of equality,
respect for sovereignty, and reciprocity of obligations." Ruling on the
issues, the High Court said that on the ground of legal standing, the
petitions could be dismissed outright.
But it said because of the paramount importance and the constitutional
significance of the issues raised, "this court, in the exercise of its
sound discretion, brushes aside the procedural barrier and takes cognizance
of the petitions as we have done in other important cases."
The High Court said that whether the VFA was concurred in by the Senate
under Section 25, Article XVIII or under Section 21, Article VII, "it is
our considered view that both constitutional provisions, far from
contradicting each other, actually share some common ground."
It pointed out that Section 25, Article XVIII of the Constitution deals
with treaties involving foreign military bases, troops, or facilities and
should apply in the VFA, "to a certain extent and in a limited sense.
However, the provisions of Section 21, Article VII will find applicability
with regard to the issue and for the sole purpose of determining the number
of votes required to the valid concurrence by the Senate."
On the issue that the VFA should be a treaty and not merely an agreement,
the High Court said "it is inconsequential whether the US treats the VFA
only as an executive agreement because, under international law, an
executive agreement is as binding as a treaty." Mla. Bulletin, 10/11/2000
AMERICA REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO RP: Honolulu - The United States said
Monday (yesterday in Manila) it would continue to abide by its Mutual
Defense Treaty with the Philippines, an accord which dates back to 1951.
In a roundtable meeting with Philippine officials led by President Estrada
at the US Pacific Command headquarters here, Adm. Dennis Blair assured the
President that the US would closely coordinate with the Philippine
government on various activities, including the regular joint military
exercises called "Balikatan."
Blair, who is the 19th commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command, said
the Philippines and the US could work together in fighting global
terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy and other clandestine activities.
Blair is the most senior of US military commanders in the Pacific and
Indian Ocean areas. He heads the largest of the unified commands of the
US military and directs army, navy, marine and air force operations across
more than 100 million square miles.
The US government, Blair said, is aware of the activities of the bandit
group Abu Sayyaf and its ties with alleged international terrorist Osama
bin Laden. The Philippine and US panels also discussed other regional
concerns, including the China-Taiwan impasse, the South China Sea dispute
and the East Timor problem. Phil. Star, 09/13/2000
VICTIMS OF TOXIC WASTE PICKET US EMBASSY: Some 300 mothers whose children
and husbands were alleged victims of toxic waste contamination at the
former United States military bases staged a picket yesterday in front of
the US Embassy in Manila to press the American government to "clean-up
their wastes."
Garbed in black dresses as a sign of mourning for the deaths and near
deaths of their loved ones, the mothers assembled in front of the embassy
and called on President Estrada to include the clean-up of the military
bases in his talks with US President Bill Clinton. Two black cardboard
coffins were placed in the middle of the road fronting the embassy to
symbolize the deaths of toxic waste victims.
The demonstrators were supported by the People's Task Force for Bases
Clean-Up. The rallyists started their march from the Quirino Grandstand
in Luneta. Only recently, toxic waste victims sought compensation of P52
billion from the Philippine government and $102 billion from the US
government for actual, moral and exemplary damages.
However, government experts allegedly found no toxic elements, except
for iron which is very common, in ground water samples taken at the
former US Air Force base facility in Clark Field, Pampanga.
Phil. Star, 07/28/2000
TOXIC WASTE VICTIMS NAME GOV'T AGENCIES IN SUIT: The more than 400
victims of toxic waste contamination in the former American military bases
have named the departments of national defense, health, environment and
social welfare development as the top government agencies responsible for
the numerous deaths and illnesses they continue to suffer.
The victims' lawyers accused the Office of the President and the four
government departments of gross negligence in handling the toxic
contamination in Clark Field, Pampanga and Subic Bay in Nueva Ecija and
its resulting deaths and diseases. Also named in the P52-billion lawsuit
against the government were the Bases Conversion Development Authority,
the Clark Development Corp., the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the
Mount Pinatubo Commission. The lawyers, from the Pena Sanchez Lacson and
Mison Law Office, said these agencies failed to address the severe
environmental damage and the needs of the victims resulting in their
suffering.
"The Philippine government--particularly the Office of the President,
DENR and DND--was grossly negligent when it failed to ensure that those
portions of the Philippine environment covered by the Subic Naval Base
and Clark Air Base were properly protected . . . from hazardous and toxic
wastes," read the demand letter.
A similar demand letter was handed to the United States government through
US Ambassador Thomas Hubbard. The US, particularly its departments of
defense, army and navy, was asked to indemnify the victims to the amount
of $102 billion and to clean the toxic wastes in the former military bases.
The suit pinpointed the Health department for its alleged failure to
provide medical, financial or other assistance to the toxic waste victims,
either those who died or survived. The People's Task Force for Bases Clean
Up said that almost 300 residents of the Clark Air Base community have
either died or suffered various illnesses allegedly caused by toxic waste
contamination in the former air force base. It was learned that their
problems started when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991 and they were relocated
to the Cabcom area inside the former military installation. The evacuees
put up artesian wells and used the water for drinking. Many have reportedly
complained of the water's taste, odor and color.
It turned out, according to the task force, that the water was
contaminated by toxic waste that have reportedly seeped through the ground
water. The task force also monitored similar cases in the former
Subic Naval Base. There, many are reportedly suffering from various
types of cancer, leukemia, congenital heart diseases, kidney problem,
central nervous system disorder, lung problems, skin diseases,
spontaneous abortions and still births. Inquirer, 07/23/2000
TOXIC WASTE VICTIMS SUE US FOR $102B: The more than 200 victims of toxic
waste contamination in the former United States military bases Clark
Field and Subic Bay are demanding $102 billion in compensation from the
US government representing actual, exemplary and moral damages.
The victims are also demanding that the US Department of Defense, as well
as its Army and Navy, immediately start clearing the former air force
base in Pampanga and the naval facility in Zambales of toxic waste. The
group is also demanding P52 billion in compensation from the Philippine
government for its alleged negligence in ensuring the safety of the former
American bases and its failure to compel the US government to remove its
military's toxic waste from the facilities.
The demand was made in behalf of purported victims of contamination by
the Pasig City-based Pena-Sanchez-Lacson and Mison law office and was
sent through US Ambassador Thomas Hubbard. The lawyers demanded that the
governments respond within the next five calendar days. Lawyer Alexander
Lacson said the governments' failure to respond within the period would
prompt the firm to file a class suit in Philippine courts.
Sen. Sergio Osmena III, who was also present at the news conference,
threw his support to the move. Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. for
his part said the victims would have a hard time proving their case. And
even if they won, he added, local courts could not execute the judgment
since they did not have jurisdiction over sovereign states such as the US.
Siazon said the victims would first have to prove that they had not been
warned by the government to stay away from the contaminated sites. Siazon
said the victims also had to establish the ''direct relationship'' between
the existence of toxic waste in the former US bases and the deaths and
illnesses.
The Philippine government has maintained that no study has yet conclusively
established that the reported illnesses and deaths are caused by exposure
to toxic waste. At the news conference, the People's Task Force for Bases
Clean Up presented what it claimed were young victims of toxic waste
contamination, Crizel Valencia, Romulo Palo, 5-year-old Abraham Taruc,
who suffers from a central nervous system disorder and 3-year old Myka
Misiano, who suffers from delayed mental development. Lacson said the law
firm had timed the filing of the demand letter to coincide with President
Estrada's forthcoming state visit to the US. Lacson said the firm had
received information that the President would bring up the toxic waste
issue with US President Bill Clinton. Inquirer, 07/21/2000
ESTRADA TO USE TACT IN TALK WITH BILL ON TOXIC WASTE: President Estrada
said yesterday he would use his diplomatic skills to bring up the issue
of toxic wastes left behind by the Americans in their former military
facilities in Subic and Clark when he and United States President Bill
Clinton hold their one-on-one talks at the White House later this month.
President Estrada met yesterday in Malacanang with Philippine ambassador
to the US, former Senate President Ernesto Marceda who briefed him on
the preparations being made for his official visit to the US this July 24
to Aug. 1.
In a press conference at Malacanang yesterday, President Estrada said
he might bring up the issue of toxic wastes in Subic and Clark in broad
terms only and not on the specific of this Philippine request for the US
government to help clean them up.
Asked if he intends to raise the toxic waste issue with Clinton, President
Estrada replied: "We might. But we don't have to specify Subic and Clark."
President Estrada said he might also discuss with Clinton the possible
military equipment from the US under the excess defense articles agreement
between the two countries. Phil. Star, 07/07/2000
RP-US NAVAL WAR GAMES START: SUBIC BAY FREEPORT - Joint naval exercises
between the Philippines and the United States kicked off here yesterday to
test operational readiness of their respective navies and further strengthen
bilateral defense cooperation.
Dubbed "Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2000," the
exercise will also introduce Philippine Navy personnel to modern naval
hardware. It will end June 27.
In his opening address, Rear Adm. Stephen Loeffler, chief of the US Navy
Logistics Command in the Western Pacific and US CARAT task force commander,
and Rear Adm. Erlinda Erolin opened the war games involving nearly 3,700
Filipino and US servicemen.
Press Undersecretary Antonio Seva said 1,680 Filipino troops and 2,008
American servicemen will take part in the exercises meant to improve
"inter-operability" of the two navies and "enhance mutual training and
establish goodwill, mutual understanding and cooperation."
Loffler said the training will be beneficial for both countries because it
promotes "strategic understanding of the challenges we all face in the
Asia-Pacific (region), particularly Southeast Asia."
A joint press statement said the project will also include anti-air and
anti-surface live fire at remotely-controlled targets "to test gunmount and
combat information watchstanders." Phil. Star, 06/15/2000
US WARSHIPS STIR MEMORIES OF ’92: Five US navy warships docked yesterday at
the former American naval base in Subic Bay for the first time since 1992
when the United States ended nearly a century of its military presence in
the Philippines.
The vessels, carrying about 1,700 American sailors, will participate in
military exercises with 1,300 Filipino counterparts, dubbed "Cooperation
Afloat: Readiness and Training 2000 (CARAT 2000)."
Local businesses are hoping to cash in on the task force's two-week stay but
a Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority official said the US servicemen would be
"limited within the security confines of the freeport's fenced perimeters."
The official, who requested anonymity, did not explain the order.
Philippine Navy Commodore Benjamin Tancio said the June 14-27 exercise will
promote coordination between the Philippine and US navies in planning,
command, tactics and community relations.
A live-fire exercise is scheduled later this week at an army camp in Nueva
Ecija province.
CARAT 2000 is the second major military exercise since the ratification of
the VFA by the Senate in May last year that paved the way for the resumption
of Philippine-US joint military exercises.
The US task force is led by Commodore Joseph Natale, commander of Destroyer
Squadron Nine based in Everett Naval Station in Washington. Phil. Star,
06/14/2000
SBMA CLOSES 23 TOXIC SITES TO INVESTORS: SUBIC BAY FREEPORT ZONE--Officials
of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority have closed to investors 23 sites
earlier recommended for toxic waste cleanup, but activists warned that the
order was vaguely worded and did not guarantee a stop to cases of toxic
poisoning.
In a memorandum dated April 10, the SBMA Ecology Center ordered that the 23
sites be excluded from ''further development or activity'' by investors
pending a study on how they could be rehabilitated.
The order was addressed to the SBMA's departments of locator registration,
investment processing, land and estate management, strategic planning and
engineering.
The closure of the sites is not meant to ''prejudice the national
government's claim for whatever assistance the United States government may
extend'' since it was the US military which is being held responsible for
these toxic materials, the memorandum added.
The closure, covering 44 sites, was made on the recommendation of the
environmental firm Woodward Clyde.
The ecology center identified the priority sites for cleanup as the Subic
landfill, Osir basin landfill, NEX taxi compound, Deltic yard and defense
reutilization and marketing office.
Also on the priority list are the public works vehicle maintenance yard,
ship repair facility causeway, explosive ordnance disposal area at Camayan
Point, Cubi hospital incinerator and the fire fighting training pit.
According to the memorandum, the study suggested further investigation and
possible rehabilitation of the material department's open storage yard,
laundry and dry cleaning facility, hazardous materials storage area, fleet
mooring and sandblasting yard, trash and recycling facility and the old
Subic power station.
A study was also proposed for the lower Mau, hazardous waste facility pest
control shop, transformer reconditioning shop, ship repair facility foundry
shop, jet engine maintenance facility, Boton industrial area and the Cubi
power section.
The memorandum, however, did not state the present use of the 23 sites or
the activities there.
The People's Task Force for Bases Clean-up described the closure policy as
''vague.''
''Does this policy mean that only future developments are being suspended?
If there are ongoing activities there before the policy, are these retained
or also postponed?'' said Myrla Baldonado, PTFBC national coordinator.
Inquirer, 02/21/2000
US OFFICIALS OFFER HELP IN BASES WASTE CLEANUP: Ranking officials and
environmental experts from the United States have started discussing with
several Philippine government agencies how their government can cooperate in
addressing the toxic waste contamination problem in former US military bases
here.
The nine-member delegation, led by Gary Vest, principal assistant deputy
undersecretary of defense for environmental security, met with
representatives of the Philippine inter-agency task force on bases cleanup
from May 10-12.
Vest and the rest of the delegation, who included representatives from the
US Department of State, Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection
Agency, the Department of Energy and the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), visited the former US naval base in Subic, Zambales.
It was not known if the US officials also toured the former US air base in
Clark, Pampanga before they left Saturday.
The delegation met with representatives from the departments of foreign
affairs, health, environment, science and technology, the Philippine Nuclear
Research Institute and the Subic Bases Management Authority.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for American affairs Clemencio Montesa,
who met with the delegation Friday, said the US and Philippine panels agreed
to establish a ''general framework'' of cooperation in addressing the
environmental and public health concerns raised by the toxic wastes.
The ''breakthrough'' discussions followed US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright's letter to the DFA in March acknowledging the ''serious public
health and environmental problems'' raised.
Albright had maintained that the US government had no legal responsibility
to clean up its former bases, but said it was ''not insensitive'' to the
concerns raised.
The Philippines maintains that the US has the moral obligation at least to
clean up the bases.
In a press conference Friday, Vest said their presence here indicated ''our
high degree of sensitivity to the issues raised here.''
But Vest said that their government had no liability under US or
international law to clear former bases of toxic wastes, so the US
government's cooperation ''will not include the specific clean up.''
Vest said the US would extend ''assistance in the form of cooperation as to
how to approach (the problem).''
He said US scientists and environmental professionals would eventually come
here in the next few months to talk with their Filipino counterparts.
Inquirer, 05/15/2000
TOXIC WASTES’ DEATH TOLL REACHES 101, GROUP CLAIMS: CLARK FIELD, Pampanga --
When 10-year-old Iris Pangan fell on her knees in her Grade 3 classroom in
Barangay Tabun here seven years ago, she was never to be the same again.
In their small home at the Mawaque resettlement for lahar victims, her
jobless parents observed yesterday the traditional ika-siyam or ninth day of
her death last May 2. For seven years, she lived like a vegetable.
According to the People's Task Force on Bases Clean-up (PTFBC), Iris could
be the 101st "victim" of toxic wastes allegedly left behind by Americans at
their former military base here, which is now a special economic zone.
But Iris' case is different because her family never stayed at an evacuation
center here where the PTFBC said the other "victims" once lived. The
center's shallow wells were believed contaminated with toxic wastes.
Iris' grandmother, Ignacia Dungca, 75, said her granddaughter might have
been exposed to toxic wastes after frequently bathing in a river emanating
from Clark Field.
Dungca said Iris was brought to various hospitals where doctors attributed
her worsening condition to nervous system disorders.
In 1998, the PTFBC and the Canada-based International Institute of Concern
for Public Health (IICPH) released the results of a three-year study on the
health of people living in or near the former US Air Force Base.
The study covered 1,208 households in 11 areas in this town, and Barangay
Balibago in Angeles City. The study, however, did not cover Barangay Tabun,
where the Pangans resided.
The study found significant problems in the female reproductive system, the
nervous system and the kidneys of residents. Poor health was also noted
among children.
"To do nothing is to invite disaster," Dr. Rosalie Bertell, head of the
IICPH, then said.
Jerry Basilio, president of the Urban Poor Association of this town,
believes that contaminants at Clark have already reached outside
communities.
He noted that in Barangay San Joaquin which is near a dumpsite of the former
US Air Force Base, at least two children have developed hydrocephalus, which
results in large skulls and mental retardation due to the accumulation of
spinal fluid.
Since most of the toxic waste "victims" are poor, the PTFBC has been raising
funds for their medical needs. On May 30, it is sponsoring a benefit concert
of a well-known tenor at the Movale Ballroom of Holiday Inn Clark. Phil.
Star, 05/11/2000
RP MAY WAIVE JURISDICTION OVER US TROOPS’ OFFENSES: The government may
waive jurisdiction over off-duty American servicemen accused of committing
>offenses against Filipinos during their assignment here as part of the
>Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
>Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. told the Senate yesterday that
>although the Philippines has primary and exclusive jurisdiction over US
>servicemen who commit offenses while off duty, the VFA allows for a
transfer
>of jurisdiction to the US.
>The committee on justice and human rights, chaired by Sen. Renato Cayetano,
>is investigating reports that three US servicemen's acquittal in a case in
>Cebu was a travesty of justice and the court's decision violated the rights
>of taxi driver Marcelo Batestil.
>In his testimony before the committee, Siazon justified the government's
>waiver of jurisdiction over the three US Navy men who were charged in court
>for mauling Batestil in Cebu City last March 12.
>Siazon said the government waived jurisdiction over Americans Michael
Keyes,
>Shannon Towers, and John Earl Lowery upon request of the US.
>Although signed on March 30 when the three servicemen were arraigned, the
>waiver was released after the charges against them had been dismissed.
>However, Cayetano, and Senators Aquilino Pimentel and Teofisto Guingona
>rejected Siazon’s interpretation of the VFA’s provisions.
>Guingona said the US cannot have concurrent jurisdiction over cases in
which
>the Philippines has exclusive and primary jurisdiction, while Cayetano said
>that transfer of jurisdiction is only possible when it is concurrent and
not
>when exclusive and primary.
>Pimentel, on the other hand, expressed concern over Siazon's interpretation
>of the VFA, saying it could be used as a precedent in future cases.
>Cayetano and Pimentel urged Siazon to come out with a position paper on
>offenses where the Philippines has primary and exclusive jurisdiction, and
>those where jurisdiction is concurrent between the US and the Philippines.
>Cayetano and Pimentel noted the US servicemen were acquitted because of
>Batestil's lack of interest to prosecute the case and not due to the
>government's waiver of jurisdiction. Phil. Star, 05/04/2000
RP-US TALKS ON PROGRAMS FOR FORMER BASES BEGIN: The Philippines and the
United States have opened talks on possible joint health and environmental
programs for former US military bases reportedly contaminated with toxic
wastes.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for American Affairs Clemencio Montesa
described last Wednesday's meeting with US officials as a "meaningful
breakthrough" in the Estrada administration's efforts to find a solution to
the toxic waste problem at the former Clark Air Base in Pampanga and Subic
Naval Base in Zambales.
Upon instructions from US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, American
Ambassador to Manila Thomas Hubbard designated Deputy Chief of Mission
Michael Malinowski, Second Secretary on Environment and Science and
Technology Lauren Catipon and US Agency for International Development's
environmental affairs chief Michael Yates as Washington's representatives to
the meeting.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr., Albright said while her
government never agreed to the creation of the bilateral task force to
address the toxic problem in the two areas, she added they were "not
insensitive to the concerns arising from allegations of serious public
health and/or environmental problems."
She said that Washington was not under any legal obligations to address the
toxic waste contamination.
She said the Philippine-US Military Bases Agreement "imposed no obligation"
on the US to return the former military bases "to their original condition
and to remediate any environmental damage."
Instead, the accord required the US to leave to the Philippines all fixed
improvements when the US would turn over the facilities, which she said the
US did. Phil. Star, 04/14/2000
ANOTHER DEATH LINKED TO TOXIC WASTES: CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE--A former
evacuee at the Clark Air Base Command evacuation center has died of kidney
failure last March 25, bringing to 99 the death toll there from ailments
linked to exposure from American military toxic wastes.
Lilia Dizon, the latest fatality, lived at the AFP II Building of the Cabcom
since 1992. She died at the Angeles Medical Center.
Her husband, who also resided at the Cabcom, died of cancer of the lungs,
said Nerissa Agustin-Sagum, People's Task Force for Bases Cleanup in
Pampanga coordinator.
From 1995 to 1998, the PTFBC recorded 50 deaths, mostly children and women
afflicted with liver and breast cancer. Thirty-nine others died there in
1999.
Ten others have died since January this year, including Dizon and child
toxic warrior Crizel Jane Valencia, who died of leukemia in February.
Eight women reported having an average of two miscarriages or still births
during their stay in the same area.
The PTFBC also received reports of four deaths due to leukemia in Sapang
Bato, a village at the eastern periphery of the former Clark Air Base.
Cabcom used to be a motor pool of the US 13th Air Force assigned at Clark.
It was one of the 14 sites identified as contaminated with high levels of
lead and petroleum hydrocarbons, according to the Weston International,
which did the environmental baseline study for Clark.
Mercury, nitrate and coliform bacteria were also found in three shallow
wells at the Cabcom.
Starting October last year, the Mount Pinatubo Commission, the Clark
Development Corp. and the Commission on Human Rights began transferring
Cabcom evacuees to two major resettlement sites to stop their continued
exposure to toxic wastes.
Of the 32 respondents covered by a Department of Health survey in September
last year, six children were found to have abnormal levels of lead in their
blood samples.
Eight out of 19 respondents had previous histories of spontaneous abortion
during their stay in the area, the DOH study said.
As Cabcom accommodated nearly 20,000 families from 1992 until late last
year, tracking and monitoring them all down had proven to be difficult,
according to Sagum.
She said no consistent health monitoring had been carried out in 13 other
communities near Clark.
So far, 90 people, mostly children with physical deformities, heart and
digestive ailments have been documented at the Madapdap resettlement site,
she said. Inquirer, 04/04/2000
CEBU TAXI DRIVER GETS PP200,000 FROM US: CEBU CITY - The US government has
paid P200,000 in damages to a taxi driver mauled by three American
servicemen after an argument over a P900 fare.
Lt. Commander Thomas Harold, commander of the USS Blue Ridge at the Marriott
Hotel here last Monday, handed the money to Rosemarie Camingao, the operator
of taxi driver Marcelo Batestil.
Batestil and his family are believed to have moved to one of the Negros
provinces.
Harold told Camingao part of the money was intended to pay Batestil's
attorney's fees and medical expenses, and the damage to the taxi he was
driving.
On the other hand, Alberto, Rosemarie's husband and a councilor of Carcar
town, said he would like the money to be donated to Carcar if Batestil
rejects it or when Cardinal Vidal refuses to accept the money.
Vidal has yet to respond to a letter from Batestil's counsel, Gerardo
Carillo, signifying that the Catholic Church is to be the recipient of the
P200,000.
Meanwhile, the money was deposited on Monday afternoon at the Osmena
Boulevard branch of United Coconut Planters Bank for safekeeping.
Batestil has disappeared since Executive Judge Rosabella Tormis dismissed
the case against US Navy Petty Officers Shannon Towers, Johnny Lowery, and
Michael Keys.
In Congress, Sen. Renato Cayetano filed a resolution last Monday seeking an
investigation on the circumstances and legal basis for the dismissal of the
case.
Cayetano said Batestil's claim in a radio interview that he did not fully
understand the court proceedings was one of his bases in sponsoring the
resolution. Phil. Star, 04/05/2000
GOV'T WAIVES JURISDICTION OVER 3 US SAILORS: They're not completely off the
hook yet.
The three American sailors who mauled a Filipino taxi driver in Cebu last
month could still be prosecuted by the United States Armed Forces even after
charges against them had been dropped by their victim.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also announced yesterday that the
Philippine government has waived its jurisdiction over the case to US
authorities.
A DFA statement noted that under the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA),
the Philippines, upon request of the US, can waive its primary right to
exercise jurisdiction except in cases of "particular importance" to it.
The waiver, the department said, is meant to allow the US government to have
a hand in prosecuting its own people.
Petty Officers 3 Michael Keyes, Shannon Towers and fireman Johnny Earl
Lowerly Jr., all servicemen of the USS Blue Ridge, were accused of mauling
taxi driver Marcelo Batestil in Cebu City last March 12.
They were allowed to leave for the US by a local judge on condition that
they would return to face trial. They returned Wednesday for their scheduled
arraignment.
US officials assured, though, that the three would be punished accordingly
under American laws.
Batestil's plight has become a test case for the VFA, a treaty that grants
protection to American soldiers deployed in the Philippines. Phil. Star,
04/01/2000
CLARK TOXIC WASTE DEATH TOLL NOW 100: MABALACAT, Pampanga - A total of 100
people have died since 1995 from diseases believed to have been caused by
toxic wastes that US troops left at the former Clark air base.
The latest victim, Lilia Dizon, 44, succumbed to kidney failure at the
Mawague resettlement area here last Saturday, said Nerissa Agustin, local
coordinator of the People's Task Force for Bases Cleanup (PTFBC).
Agustin said kidney failure has been linked to the toxic wastes at Clark,
citing a study conducted by the environmental firm Veston International in
1998.
Like the 99 other victims, Dizon had lived at the Clark Evacuation Center
along with thousands of refugees after they were displaced by the 1991 erupt
ion of Mt. Pinatubo, Agustin said.
Agustin said the PTFBC started conducting a survey on the health conditions
of people living in communities within the area and periphery of Clark.
At least five residents of Barangay Sapang Bato on Clark's western boundary
with Angeles City have already died of leukemia, a disease believed to be
caused by mercury contamination, said Winston Miranda, a PTFBC volunteer at
the barangay.
One of the victims, Renato dela Rosa, 55, worked at Clark and was assigned
to strip asbestos boards from the ceiling of a building now occupied by a
duty free shop, he added.
Agustin, who is a nurse, said kidney failure is often associated with lead,
one of the wastes already identified by the Department of Health in a recent
study of blood samples from 32 residents of Clark Evacuation Center, which
the US Air Force used as a motorpool.
She said the PTFBC is monitoring the health conditions of former Clark
residents, who have been relocated to the Madapdap Resettlement Center in
this town.
Dizon was the first "toxic waste fatality" to be reported at the Mawague
Resettlement area, she added.
Since 1995, 99 former Clark residents have already died in Madapdap alone
from different diseases believed to have been triggered by toxic wastes,
according to records at PTFBC.
Agustin said the victims died of various illnesses, including cancer of the
liver, bone, breast, nose, and the pharynx, as well as leukemia and kidney
failure.
These diseases were also identified as related to toxic wastes at Clark in a
"Health-for-All" survey conducted by the International Institute of Concern
for Public Health in Canada in 1998, she added. Phil. Star, 04/01/2000
CHARGES DISMISSED AS 3 US SAILORS RETURN, APOLOGIZE: CEBU CITY -- A judge
dismissed charges Thursday against three US sailors after they returned to
the Philippines to face trial and apologized in court to a taxi driver they
were accused of beating, officials said.
The driver, Marcelo Batistil, told a packed court room in central Cebu City
that he was withdrawing his complaint after the sailors heeded the court
summons and apologized, the officials said.
After the driver withdrew the complaint, Judge Rosabella Tormis dismissed
charges that the Americans refused to pay their fare and beat up Batistil.
The sailors - Johnny Earl Lowerly Jr., Michael Keys, and Shannon Towers -
then shook Batistil's hand. One hugged him tightly, drawing applause from
the crowd.
The case had been widely seen as the first test of American compliance with
a new bilateral accord, the Visiting Forces Agreement, which states that
U.S. troops who commit crimes while off duty in the Philippines are subject
to Philippine law.
Batistil said the decision of the American sailors to return to the country,
subject themselves to Philippine legal jurisdiction and make a public
apology was enough for him to forgive them.
Batistil, who was hospitalized after he was beaten, said he learned the U.S.
sailors were planning to give him an unspecified amount of money but he
asked them instead to give the money to a religious group or to poor
Filipinos needing money to pay medical bills.
They returned Wednesday night on a U.S. Navy plane from Japan, where the
ship is based, and pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Thursday on
criminal charges of hitting Batistil which were filed after they left.
After entering their not-guilty plea, the sailors read a statement of
apology to Batistil, who then announced he was withdrawing his case. Mla.
Bulletin, 03/31/2000
US CAN'T ADDRESS TOXIC WASTE ISSUE, ALBRIGHT INFORMS DFA: The United States
government has officially informed the Philippines that it could not address
the issue on alleged toxic waste contamination at its former military bases
at Clark Field, Pampanga and Subic, Zambales, Foreign Affairs Secretary
Domingo Siazon Jr. said yesterday.
Instead, Siazon said US State Secretary Madeleine Albright, in a letter to
the Department of Foreign Affairs early this week, gave assurance that the
US government would support the creation of a team that would deal with
general environmental issues.
According to Siazon, Albright said the US government, through its ambassador
here, would be ready to extend assistance on the country's environmental
concerns.
But Albright, Siazon said, clarified that such help would not in any way be
related to the clean-up of alleged toxic wastes left by American forces at
Clark and Subic.
Albright added that under the Philippine-US military bases agreement, the US
government was in no obligation to undertake such toxic waste clean-up.
Phil. Star, 03/24/2000
CEBU DRIVER VOWS NOT TO SETTLE WITH US SAILORS: He's not budging.
The taxi driver who was allegedly mauled by US servicemen in Cebu City
renewed his vow yesterday to pursue criminal charges against the suspects.
"I won't withdraw the charges," Marcelo Batestil told Senate reporters.
Sen. Loren Legarda presented Batestil, who still had a black eye due to the
incident last March 12, to Senate reporters. His lawyer Gerry Carillo and
taxicab operator Alberto Cabingao accompanied him.
During the press briefing, Batestil confirmed reports that he was being
offered $5,000 in exchange for an out-of-court settlement. US officials
relayed the offer through his lawyer.
But Batistil said no amount of money could compensate the injury he suffered
at the hands of Petty Officers Michael Keys, Johnny Earl Lowerly and Shannon
Towers of the USS Blue Ridge.
Carillo said aside from estafa charges, serious physical injuries and
malicious mischief charges had already been filed against the suspects
before the Cebu City prosecutor.
Legarda commended Batestil for his refusal to settle the case out of court.
She had earlier offered to shoulder the driver's legal expenses if he
pursued the case.
The senator, who voted against the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement, said the
Batestil issue was a test case for the VFA and the government must not waive
its jurisdiction over the US servicemen, who, after going bar-hopping,
allegedly beat up Batestil over cab fare.
Legarda said if Batestil agrees to an out-of-court settlement, the
Philippines would become the laughing stock of the international community.
Under Article 5 of the VFA, she said, the Philippines has jurisdiction over
crimes committed by US personnel on off-duty status but may have to waive
jurisdiction if requested by the US government. The Philippine government,
however, may refuse if the case is important to it.
The US requested that it be given jurisdiction of the case so that the
servicemen could be court-martialed. Phil. Star, 02/22/2000
VFA TEST: RAPS FILED AGAINST 3 US SAILORS: CEBU CITY--They came to build
orphanages, renovate schools and distribute toys. The friendly port call of
the USS Blue Ridge, however, has turned into a test case of the RP-US
Visiting Forces Agreement.
Far from fostering good will, three US servicemen are now facing trial here
for allegedly beating up a Filipino taxi driver over a P900 fare dispute and
breaking the windshield of another cab.
Petty Officer 3 Michael Keys, PO3 Shannon Towers, and PO Johnny Earl Lowerly
appeared somber in casual clothes Tuesday at the prosecutor's office.
The three sailors, all in their 20s, pleaded not guilty to estafa when they
were arraigned before Municipal Trial Court Judge Rosabella Tormis later in
the afternoon.
Tormis deferred the trio's arraignment for slight physical injuries after
the lawyer of 39-year-old taxi driver Marcelo Batestil moved to upgrade the
charge to serious physical injuries.
Lawyer Gerry Carillo also planned to file a charge of malicious mischief
against the three US servicemen who allegedly smashed the windshield of
another cab driven by 43-year-old Rodrigo Bandiala.
The maximum sentence for inflicting slight injury and committing estafa is
13 months in prison.
State prosecutors said there was no need for the three servicemen to post
bail. The accused were released to the custody of Lt. Commodore Thomas
Herold, commander of the USS Blue Ridge, flagship of the US Seventh Fleet.
Tormis said she would allow Keys, Towers and Lowerly to leave with their
ship for Japan today after Herold promised her to present the three men in
court hearings scheduled on March 21 and 23, April 12 and 17, and May 3, 10
and 18.
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the case would test whether the
United States would comply with the VFA, which states that American troops
who commit crimes while off duty are subject to Philippine legal
jurisdiction.
US Embassy spokesperson Thomas Skipper acknowledged the servicemen were off
duty at the time, ''which means that they should fall under Philippine
jurisdiction.''
But Skipper said in Manila that he was not ruling out an out-of-court
settlement.
Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon confirmed there was a US request for the
Philippines to waive its jurisdiction over the case.
Protesters marched Monday and Tuesday to the Lapulapu City pier, where the
USS Blue Ridge was docked, and demanded it to leave. Inquirer, 03/15/2000
VFA PANEL SEEKS PROBE ON ACCIDENTAL SHELLING: The Visiting Forces Agreement
Commission (VFACOM) asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
yesterday to investigate the reported accidental shelling of a fishing
village in Zambales by naval vessels believed to be participating in joint
RP-US military exercises.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary and VFACOM executive director Clemencio
Montesa said the AFP would have to look into the report of officials of San
Antonio, Zambales, that four shells fired by vessels off Tabones island last
Feb. 26 missed their mark and fell on the village.
The live fire exercises, part of the recently concluded "Balikatan 2000" war
games between Philippine and American troops under the VFA, reportedly
damaged trees and almost hit several nipa huts.
The incident, Montesa disclosed, forced some 15 families living in the area
to flee in terror. "Adding to the concern of the VFACOM was the fact that
after the live firing, an unexploded shell was found in the village, putting
the lives and property of residents at serious risk," he said.
The shell, which was turned over by residents to the VFACOM, was brought to
the Philippine Navy.
Montesa said Foreign Service Officer Indira Banares, a member of the VFACOM
task force monitoring the Balikatan exercises in Subic, who visited the
remote fishing village with a team from the Coast Guard, verified the
incident.
Accounts given by the residents show that from the five to seven naval
vessels were involved although it was not immediately determined whether the
vessels were that of the Philippine Navy or the US.
Tabones island, located off Zambales, used to be a target range of the US
and Philippine navies. Although the surrounding area remains a military rese
rvation, fishermen and their families inhabit the island. Phil. Star,
03/11/2000
AETAS' DISLOCATION PROBED: CLARK FIELD, Pampanga--The Presidential
Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement has invited non-government
organizations to join a fact-finding mission in Tarlac to determine whether
Aetas have been displaced by the recent Philippines-US Balikatan 2000
military exercises.
In a statement faxed to reporters here Tuesday, Assistant Defense Secretary
Ruben Carranza, VFACom deputy executive director, said the government ''has
nothing to hide'' with regard to the exercises.
NGOs, like the Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya, had claimed that the
military exercises displaced scores of Aeta families living near the Crow
Valley firing range in Capas, Tarlac, and exposed them to harm.
Philippine and US troops used the site in aerial maneuvering and special
action forces' ground exercises, including the use of live ammunition, from
Feb. 22 to March 3.
The KPD claimed the exercises had deprived Aeta families of their
livelihood. It added that their lives are endangered by unexploded
ammunition left behind in the area by US helicopter gunships that took part
in the war games.
Carranza said the VFACom was ''as concerned as these NGOs are on the plight
of the Aeta communities and has, in fact, sent no less than three teams to
check on the reported displacement of Aetas in villages around Crow Valley
in Tarlac and Zambales.''
To determine whether the Balikatan exercises had indeed displaced the Aetas,
the KPD and other NGOs should join the VFACom in a fact-finding mission, he
said.
Elmer Cato, VFACom spokesperson, said he was among the commission's team
members who were sent over the weekend to Sta. Juliana Village in Capas,
Tarlac to look into the allegations of the NGOs. Inquirer, 03/08/2000
`BALIKATAN' DECLARED A SUCCESS: The United States yesterday pronounced the
just concluded ''Balikatan'' war exercises a success and said it was
considering future exercises to be done simultaneously with the Philippines
and four other security partners in the Asia-Pacific region similar to the
ones they are conducting in Europe.
Philippine military officials also described the exercises as a success,
saying the country was able to take part at a relatively low cost and with
apparently no major damage to the environment.
The US also announced it would provide humanitarian assistance amounting to
P16.7 million for the thousands of people displaced by Mount Mayon's
eruption.
At a ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo marking the end of the Balikatan, Lt. Gen.
Ed Smith said the US would certainly encourage multilateral peace support,
humanitarian and disaster and relief operations with the Philippines and
four other security partners, namely Japan, South Korea, Australia and
Thailand.
Smith said that a month ago, the US conducted a four-nation multilateral
peacekeeping exercise in Nepal which also involved Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Representatives of 18 nations as observers, he said, witnessed the exercise.
Ambassador Thomas Hubbard said that while no exercise of this kind has been
lined up for the region, the US would certainly welcome one.
He said unlike in Europe and the Atlantic where the US maintains
multilateral alliances, only multilateral alliances involving security
partners in Asia have been considered.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Angelo Reyes said the AFP was happy to note
the high level of interoperability and skills displayed by Filipino soldiers
side by side with American troops.
He said the exercises also scored high in terms of leaving the environment
intact and in socio-civic activities.
Reyes, however, said that the final test of their bilateral military
alliance would be during an external aggression affecting the Philippines
and how the US would react to it.
Reyes also said the AFP spent only P38 million for the exercise, an amount
he considered minuscule compared to the benefits derived from the exercises.
For his part, Hubbard said that the measurable benefit of the war exercise
can be seen in the successful conduct of numerous humanitarian assistance
and civil-military operations.
At last count, he said, medical clinics operating in conjunction with the
exercise treated over 20,000 patients; the dental clinics treated over 2,500
individuals; and optometry clinics, about 700.
In addition, Balikatan veterinarians treated some 400 large animals and over
1,700 small animals.
A more dramatic demonstration of interoperability, he said, was the
deployment of US troops to the Bicol region for humanitarian operation to
help evacuees affected by the Mayon Volcano eruptions.
He said his government has put up a total of $480,000 donations for Mayon
victims, consisting mainly of tents and relief items.
Some of the American soldiers will be left behind for five more days to help
in putting up the tents in the evacuation centers in Bicol. Inquirer,
03/04/2000
RP, US FORCES STORM TERNATE BEACH IN BIGGEST WAR GAMES IN FIVE YEARS:
TERNATE, Cavite -- Philippine and US troops stormed a beach here yesterday
in a mock war that capped the two countries' first large-scale military
exercise in five years.
Watched by diplomats from various Asian countries, nearly 2,000 Filipino and
American troops staged an amphibious landing on the beaches in Ternate town.
They detonated previously planted live bombs to simulate a pre-assault
bombardment of supposed enemy defenses on the beach.
The simulated assault, which was conducted at the Philippine Marines base
facing Corregidor island, began with a naval bombardment of the shore by
Navy ships, followed by air raids by F-5 fighter jets, S-211 Augusta jets
and OV-10 "Bronco" aircraft.
This was followed by the "covert insertion" of special forces teams by
helicopters and finally, the landing of Filipino and American Marines aboard
amphibious assault vehicles and landing craft.
"I think this will strengthen our military relationship, strengthen the
bilateral relationship between the two countries and contribute to peace and
security in the region," US Ambassador Thomas Hubbard told reporters.
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, for his part, said: "This is an
indication that the alliance between the United States and the Philippines
is alive."
He also said the exercises will benefit the Armed Forces as they are part of
the "dividends" gained by the country from the RP-US alliance.
For his part, Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes saids the "Balikatan
2000," as the war games are called, "exceeded expectations" and showed that
"inter-operability" was possible despite the technology gap.
Sen. Francisco Tatad, meanwhile, said the conduct of the war games
"confirmed the vision of the Senate decision to concur in the RP-US Visiting
Forces Agreement (VFA).
Tatad, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs and one of the
sponsors of the VFA, issued the statement after witnessing the amphibious
landing exercises here, where US forces used the latest amphibian issue in
their inventory. Phil. Star, 02/29/2000
RP-US WAR EXERCISES DISPLACE AETA FAMILIES: CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE--The
Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement on Monday admitted
that ''additional measures'' were needed to ensure that the ongoing
Balikatan military exercises ''do not adversely affect the lives of
indigenous people.''
It was the first time that the commission made such admission since the
joint military exercises of Filipino and American troops began in late
January, but it denied any displacement among Aetas.
Tribal leaders of 120 Aeta families at Sitio Tarukan in Barangay Sta.
Juliana in Capas, Tarlac, have alerted the Inquirer about their dislocation.
Leaders of the Nagkakaisang Biktima ng Kalamidad sa Zambales (Nabigkis) also
reported the displacement of Aetas in Botolan, Zambales.
The Aetas of Mt. Pinatubo are among the biggest groups of Negritoes in the
country. After Mt. Pinatubo's eruption in 1991, they reclaimed their
indigenous domains within military reservations, one of which is the Crow
Valley bombing and gunnery range in Tarlac, north of the volcano.
Live-fire exercises began in Crow Valley last Thursday.
Elmer Cato, commission spokesperson, called the reports of displacement as
''exaggerated'' but said the ''commission feels that the government may have
to put extra measures in place to ensure that indigenous people in areas
surrounding the exercise sites are not adversely affected.''
The measures include the active involvement of the Presidential Commission
on Indigenous People in the commission work and the activation of local
monitoring councils in those areas.
Among the commission's recommendations are enhancing the coordination
between the Armed Forces and local governments in the affected areas and
improving information dissemination.
The commission did not say if it committed neglect for the plight of the
Aetas. However, these measures indicate that the potential social and
economic impact of the exercises on the Aetas has not been fully considered
in the almost two-month war games.
The commission made the recommendations after sending teams to the affected
areas.
Nabigkis reported that Aetas at Sitios Palis, Baytan and Maquisquis in the
Loob Bunga resettlement in Botolan faced starvation because of a blockade
set up by Army troops operating in support of the Balikatan exercises.
The VFA Task Force Subic said ''villagers could have mistaken pursuit
operations that were conducted against communist guerillas last week as part
of the Balikatan exercises.''
In Capas, Cato confirmed an Inquirer report that the Aetas voluntarily
transferred to a designated safe area.
The commission did not comment on the reported stoppage of livelihood
activities or on the measles outbreak among the Aetas near Crow Valley.
The Aetas returned to the farms Friday, Cato said. Inquirer, 03/01/2000
`CHILD TOXIC WARRIOR' BURIED; US SOLONS COMING: MABALACAT, Pampanga--US
Senators Richard Lugar and Daniel Inouye will come to the Philippines to
look into the toxic waste contamination in two former US-run military bases
in Central Luzon.
Sen. Sergio Osmena III confirmed the visit of the American senators shortly
after he attended the wake of 6-year-old leukemia victim Crizel Jane
Valencia at the Madapdap resettlement site here on Monday night.
Crizel, the ''child toxic warrior'' who died on Friday, was buried yesterday
in this town, said to be the 81st victim to have died from the toxic brew of
chemicals that were found in their water supply.
There should be no more Crizels, according to Osmena.
About 10 women whose children did not see the light of day because of
spontaneous abortions or stillbirths consoled her parents Alex and
Herundina, wailing in grief.
White and red balloons were attached to Crizel's hearse. Hundreds of
children and adults at Madapdap resettlement site lined the streets as the
funeral group passed by.
On the day Crizel was buried, environmental activists removed from
residential areas in Angeles City and in Mabalacat two 400-kilovolt
transformers that contained ''extremely toxic industrial chemicals.''
The People's Task Force for Bases Cleanup and government doctors had traced
Crizel's leukemia to the mercury and nitrate that seeped into the wells of
the Clark Air Base Command (Cabcom) evacuation center, where residents got
their drinking water.
Crizel and her family lived in the 12-hectare evacuation center for five
years, together with about 20,000 other families, after they were displaced
by the lahar flows from Mt. Pinatubo's eruptions.
Osmena said he has been lobbying with the US Senate for a cleanup of the
former Clark Air Base in this province and the former Subic Naval Base in
Zambales.
Crizel's case was among those Osmena cited to Lugar and Inouye as evidence
of the military toxic wastes and the need for a comprehensive cleanup of the
former bases.
Osmena said he began to lobby in October 1999 by making a side trip from an
international toxic waste summit in Washington D.C. to apprise the two
senators and several congressmen on the toxic waste problem.
''I told them their government has steadfastly refused to own up to any
legal or moral responsibility for the toxic and hazardous wastes they have
left behind,'' Osmena recalled telling the two senators.
He said Lugar and Inouye would call him this week to inform him of the
schedule of their visit.
Lugar headed the US observers' team that came to Manila during the 1986 snap
elections. He was the former chair of the US Senate committee on foreign
relations.
Inouye has a big Filipino-American constituency in Hawaii. He was Hawaii's
first congressman and the first American of Japanese descent to serve in
Congress.
Osmena said the US state and defense departments have consistently declared
that the US government has no legal responsibility for the toxic waste
problem.
The US General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress,
had confirmed ''serious contamination'' in the former bases right after the
pullout of the Americans, according to documents obtained by the bases
cleanup task force.
Two foreign-funded studies completed in 1998 had found more than 40 sites in
Clark and Subic to be in various states of contamination, said the task
force.
More people are stepping forward to claim that their ailments are the
results of long years of exposure to toxic substances at Cabcom, said Myrla
Baldonado of the task force.
Also yesterday, local and foreign environmental activists from Greenpeace
removed the two 400-kilovolt transformers from residential areas in Angeles
City and Mabalacat for safe disposal.
The transformers, measuring two meters in height, had been stolen from the
power plant of Clark.
A Greenpeace statement said analysis of soil samples from the area in
Angeles City, where one transformer was found, contained polychlorinated
biphenyls or PCBs ''up to 18 times higher than the level considered safe for
residential areas, and up to three times the level considered hazardous
waste.''
It said PCBs are industrial chemicals used mostly in electrical equipment.
They are said to induce cancer and increase susceptibility to diseases.
PCBs are harmful to the environment and classified by the UN Environment
Program as a persistent global pollutant. Inquirer, 03/01/2000
TOXIC WASTE DEATHS BLAMED ON US GOV'T: The United States must take
responsibility for the death of 6-year-old ''toxic warrior'' Crizel Jane
Valencia, as well as other deaths and illnesses caused by toxic waste in two
former US military bases in the country.
Lawmakers made this call following the sudden death on Friday of Crizel, who
collapsed while touring the Rainbow Warrior, a visiting Greenpeace ship that
she had drawn earlier.
Bases clean-up activists are convinced that Crizel's leukemia was due to her
exposure to mercury and nitrate found in the water supply at the Clark Air
Base Command (Cabcom) evacuation center, where her family had been living
for five years.
The US 13th Air Force used Clark for nearly a century.
Crizel's mother Herundina said her daughter did not die in vain.
''President Estrada should now use all his powers to effectively convince
the United States to clean its former military bases of all the toxic wastes
it left behind,'' said Rep. Wigberto Tanada.
At Pier 15 was the ship Rainbow Warrior, where Crizel only hours earlier
collapsed, threw up blood and died.
A book launching was turned into a tribute to Crizel by more than 100
environmental activists who called the leukemia victim a ''child toxic
warrior.''
Tanada said: ''Although President Estrada cannot really compel the US to do
a massive cleanup, at least he can make an urgent appeal to the former
operator of the bases to clean up the wastes it left behind, because it has
a legal and moral obligation to do so.''
He said the President should address the situation to avert ''the death of
more Crizels.''
The task force for bases cleanup earlier reported that Crizel was the 81st
person to die from toxic waste contamination in the past five years.
Tanada pointed out that a 1998 House resolution that he submitted, which was
approved by the present Congress, called on the President to urge the US
government to clean up toxic wastes that American troops left behind.
That call remains unheeded, according to the congressman.
Even when she was already very ill, Crizel managed to call the attention of
Philippine officials to the dangers of toxic waste in and around the former
Clark Air Base in Pampanga and the former Subic Naval Base in Zambales.
The precocious girl liked to draw, and one of her drawings was used in a
Valentine card to raise funds for the treatment of toxic waste victims,
including herself.
Government doctors had found that drinking water with mercury and nitrate
was the cause of leukemia and other health disorders among residents of the
Cabcom evacuation center, which American troops had used as a motor pool.
At the Madapdap resettlement site in Mabalacat, Pampanga, 63 other people
suffering from the effects of toxic waste mourned Crizel's death.
Abraham Taruc, who is suffering from a seizure disorder, and Shiela Pineda,
who has a congenital heart disease, cried for their friend. Both are only 4
years old. Inquirer, 02/28/2000
US TROOPS WON'T BE TAPPED VS REBS: FORT MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecija--The Armed
Forces of the Philippines will not tap the United States military in
counter-insurgency operations here despite the resumption of their joint war
exercises.
The assurance was made yesterday by Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado and
AFP chief of staff Gen. Angelo Reyes as they witnessed a military operation
in urban terrain (MOUT) exercise here conducted by American and Philippine
Army soldiers.
Mercado said the war games, dubbed ''Balikatan,'' had been envisioned to
fulfill the requirements of the Mutual Defense Treaty between the
Philippines and the US, not to seek their support to quell the rebel
movements.
Col. John Miller, co-director of Balikatan on the US side, said the
exercises focused more on meeting external threats and not on assisting the
Philippines in the fight against insurgents.
Selected company size units from the Philippine and US Army have been
conducting combined cross training here which runs through March 3.
The combined Army forces cross-training events (CARFOR CTX) was aimed at
improving individual skills and unit proficiencies and to exchange knowledge
in doctrines, tactics and procedures.
The 35,000-hectare Fort Magsaysay, home of the 7th Infantry Division, serves
as a training ground for Army soldiers. Inquirer, 02/25/2000
CLARK EVACUATION SITE CLOSED DUE TO TOXIC CONTAMINATION: CLARK FIELD,
Pampanga--Mount Pinatubo Commission officials announced yesterday the
closure of the controversial Clark Air Base Command (Cabcom) evacuation
center here due to persistent reports that the site is contaminated with
toxic wastes left behind by American troops who used Clark for several
decades.
Earlier, the People's Task Force for Bases Clean-Up claimed that at least 80
former Cabcom residents had died of cancer-related diseases allegedly due to
exposure to toxic wastes.
Artaserxes Sampang, MPC executive director, said the permanent closure of
the Cabcom would be implemented by the end of March.
Sampang said 205 families are still living in Cabcom. He, however, said only
175 families are legitimate lahar victims while the remaining 30 are
squatters.
He said 175 lahar-displaced families would be transferred to their new
houses in Barangay Pandacaqui in Mexico town, while the alleged squatters
would be moved to the bunkhouses at the Madapdap resettlement center in
nearby Mabalacat town.
Nongovernment organizations are demanding that the US government shoulder
the cost of cleaning up Clark and Subic, which were used extensively by US
military forces. Inquirer, 02/25/2000
WAR GAMES SHOW SORRY STATE OF AFP: CLARK FIELD, Pampanga--The Visiting
Forces Agreement and the war games between Philippine and US troops have
posed a ''strong irony'' to the Filipino struggle for freedom that was
galvanized by the 1986 people power revolt at Edsa, lawmakers and activists
said yesterday.
The second phase of the war games, dubbed Balikatan 2000, kicked off in five
areas in Luzon yesterday, the first day of the weeklong commemoration of the
Edsa uprising.
The start of the war games served to stress the obvious: the sorry state of
the Philippines' military hardware beside that of its biggest defense ally.
Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. noted this after inspecting the planes
and helicopters brought in by the United States.
But Representatives Wigberto Tanada and Loreta Ann Rosales, University of
the Philippines professor Roland Simbulan, and leaders of the Kilusan para
sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) are
hardly thrilled by the superior hardware.
In Manila, militant groups held a demonstration in front of the US Embassy.
Close to 1,000 protesters on board 93 vehicles launched the ''People's
Caravan'' that will run from the Quezon City Memorial Circle to the former
Clark Air Base in Angeles City.
The caravan will link up with other protesters who held a vigil Sunday night
at the base gate, said Bayan Secretary General Teodoro Casino.
Dan Vizmanos, a convenor of the Junk VFA Movement, said protesters also held
mass actions in Ternate, Cavite, one of the sites of the war games.
Casino said the US government wanted its presence felt in the Asia-Pacific.
Casino said that 65 percent or $920 billion worth of the total annual US
exports was dumped in the Asia-Pacific in 1996 alone.
Tanada, Rosales and Simbulan joined the KPD's Pagsambang Bayan and Freedom
Dash in front of the main gate of the Clark Special Economic Zone yesterday
morning.
Rosales said it was ''very, very ironic'' that after the Edsa revolt, the US
troops had returned and were ''establishing US military hegemony'' without
the bases.
Simbulan said the VFA and the war games were stoking anti-imperialism
sentiments in the country.
While Tanada was optimistic that the petition asking the Supreme Court to
repeal the VFA would pass muster, Simbulan, one of the co-petitioners, was
not.
The wind-powered, three-mast Rainbow Warrior, flagship of the environmental
pressure group Greenpeace International, arrives in Manila today to campaign
for, among others, the cleanup of toxic wastes left by the US military at
its former bases.
''Through the Rainbow Warrior, we would like to sound the alarm about the
slow-motion and life-threatening pollution disasters in the country, such as
the toxic and persistent poisons left behind by the Americans in their
former bases in Clark and Subic,'' said Von Hernandez, Greenpeace's toxics
campaigner for Southeast Asia. Inquirer, 02/22/2000
RP-US WAR GAMES BEGIN IN 5 AREAS: CLARK FIELD, Pampanga--All eyes are
expected to focus today not only on the awesome military hardware brought in
by the United States but also on the American troops participating in
large-scale war exercises between the Philippines and the US.
The US servicemen will be placed under watch until the end of the Balikatan
2000 exercises on Feb. 28 by a presidential body tasked to monitor
compliance with the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement.
''It is only in the Philippines that American soldiers are the most
monitored and being watched by a commission,'' Assistant Foreign Secretary
Clemencio Montesa, executive director of the VFA Commission, said yesterday.
VFA Commission officials said both sides were now prepared for the weeklong
military exercises, the second phase of the Balikatan (shoulder to shoulder)
2000, which kick off today in five areas in Luzon.
Some 5,000 Filipino and American troops will hold simultaneously air, ground
and sea cross-training exercises in Clark Field, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva
Ecija, Subic in Zambales, Ternate in Cavite, and in Puerto Princesa City.
At Clark's main gate, two rival leftist groups showed up on Sunday but
shared one cause to oppose the VFA and to call for an end to the war games.
Protesters from the Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) and the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) held separate vigils on the eve of the
start of Balikatan.
Elmer Cato, VFA Commission spokesperson, said Filipino and US Air Force
personnel would conduct cross-training exercises on mountain-maritime-jungle
operations, as well as search and rescue missions.
Cato said that all monitoring teams of the VFA Commission were now in their
areas of assignment. Local government units in the five exercise sites have
also put up their own monitoring councils.
Among the 78 countries with which the United States has forged military
alliances, only the Philippines and Okinawa in Japan require the
establishment of a body to monitor compliance, Montesa said.
Cato downplayed fears raised by militant groups that the arrival of the US
troops would mean a surge in cases of sexually transmitted diseases here.
He noted that the Angeles City government had been enforcing a 100-percent
condom policy that, he said, would reduce chances of contracting STDs.
Asked about security preparations, especially with the reported threat of
possible attacks by communist rebels, Cato said both sides were ready for
any eventuality.
He said US military officials had undertaken several measures that included
imposing a midnight curfew and a no-drinking policy on American soldiers
going for a night out.
The soldiers were also told to travel in groups of five whenever they go
outside.
Negotiations were still ongoing to put the soldiers under one roof at the
Fontana Resort, according to Monina Tan, Fontana public relations director.
Since Saturday, KPD activists has secured two lanes fronting Clark's main
gate and set up 30 meters away a camp for a 72-hour protest vigil dubbed
''Balikatan ng Mamamayan Laban sa VFA.''
Bayan's contingent of 500 protesters from Pampanga arrived at 3:20 p.m.,
chanting ''Junk, junk VFA!''
Bayan leader Rod Flores said the number would reach more than 3,000 on
Sunday night. The Junk VFA Movement was to set camp there until Monday, he
said.
Hundreds of Bayan members from Central Luzon provinces were still holding a
rally in San Fernando at late noon Sunday. The rest would come from Metro
Manila, Flores said.
A brief tension ensued when KPD activists barred one of two Bayan trucks
from trying to advance near the KPD camp.
The rival groups did not swap arguments but instead trained their attention
at the crowd that gathered in each camp to hear the issues against the VFA.
The separate rallies drew some 4,000 people, but police placed the number at
only 2,000.
The 215 US servicemen, who arrived last Sunday, have remained holed up at
the Air Force City inside Clark. They were advised not to venture out to
nearby Fields Avenue because of the protests. Inquirer, 02/21/2000
WAR GAMES SHOW SORRY STATE OF AFP: CLARK FIELD, Pampanga--The Visiting
Forces Agreement and the war games between Philippine and US troops have
posed a ''strong irony'' to the Filipino struggle for freedom that was
galvanized by the 1986 people power revolt at Edsa, lawmakers and activists
said yesterday.
The second phase of the war games, dubbed Balikatan 2000, kicked off in five
areas in Luzon yesterday, the first day of the weeklong commemoration of the
Edsa uprising.
The start of the war games served to stress the obvious: the sorry state of
the Philippines' military hardware beside that of its biggest defense ally.
Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. noted this after inspecting the planes
and helicopters brought in by the United States.
But Representatives Wigberto Tanada and Loreta Ann Rosales, University of
the Philippines professor Roland Simbulan, and leaders of the Kilusan para
sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) are
hardly thrilled by the superior hardware.
In Manila, militant groups held a demonstration in front of the US Embassy.
Close to 1,000 protesters on board 93 vehicles launched the ''People's
Caravan'' that will run from the Quezon City Memorial Circle to the former
Clark Air Base in Angeles City.
The caravan will link up with other protesters who held a vigil Sunday night
at the base gate, said Bayan Secretary General Teodoro Casino.
Dan Vizmanos, a convenor of the Junk VFA Movement, said protesters also held
mass actions in Ternate, Cavite, one of the sites of the war games.
Casino said the US government wanted its presence felt in the Asia-Pacific.
Casino said that 65 percent or $920 billion worth of the total annual US
exports was dumped in the Asia-Pacific in 1996 alone.
Tanada, Rosales and Simbulan joined the KPD's Pagsambang Bayan and Freedom
Dash in front of the main gate of the Clark Special Economic Zone yesterday
morning.
Rosales said it was ''very, very ironic'' that after the Edsa revolt, the US
troops had returned and were ''establishing US military hegemony'' without
the bases.
Simbulan said the VFA and the war games were stoking anti-imperialism
sentiments in the country.
While Tanada was optimistic that the petition asking the Supreme Court to
repeal the VFA would pass muster, Simbulan, one of the co-petitioners, was
not.
The wind-powered, three-mast Rainbow Warrior, flagship of the environmental
pressure group Greenpeace International, arrives in Manila today to campaign
for, among others, the cleanup of toxic wastes left by the US military at
its former bases.
''Through the Rainbow Warrior, we would like to sound the alarm about the
slow-motion and life-threatening pollution disasters in the country, such as
the toxic and persistent poisons left behind by the Americans in their
former bases in Clark and Subic,'' said Von Hernandez, Greenpeace's toxics
campaigner for Southeast Asia. Inquirer, 02/22/2000
US TROOPS ARRIVE FOR WAR GAMES: CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE--At least 215
American troopers are now in Clark and about 700 others are expected to
arrive this weekend in four other Luzon areas for the first set of
simultaneous military exercises that are to formally start Monday.
Contrary to reports, there would not be 2,500 American soldiers on
Philippine soil at any one time during the exercises.
''The highest number of US troops that would be exercising in the country is
900 and this would be between Feb. 21 and 28,'' Elmer Cato, spokesperson of
the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement, said in a
telephone interview.
A sizable number of the troops, about 1,200, would be aboard ships, he said.
The 215 US servicemen have started arriving in batches since Sunday on board
four C-130 planes.
The aircraft landed on one of two runways of Clark's former military
aviation area, now the state-run Clark International Airport.
In Clark, the soldiers are to do air force cross training, particularly on
search and rescue operations that come in handy in disaster-prone Central
Luzon, Cato said.
The 67 military officials who joined their Filipino counterparts in a
two-week seminar-workshop in preparation for the joint military exercises
under Balikatan 2000 left the country last weekend, Cato said.
The 320 troopers who arrived last Monday are now in Fort Magsaysay in Laur,
Nueva Ecija.
Apart from Clark, Cato said the exercises would be held in Nueva Ecija,
Subic, Palawan and Cavite. Inquirer, 02/18/2000
WAR GAMES ALL SET FOR BALIKATAN PHASE 2: The Philippines and the United
States will conduct starting Monday phase two of ''Balikatan 2000,'' the two
countries' biggest war exercise in five years.
This was announced yesterday by Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes during
a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo shortly after he attended a briefing on
the Balikatan preparations conducted by the Philippine Commission on the
RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement.
Also present at the briefing were Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, Foreign
Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon and other top officials of their
departments.
Reyes said all preparations had been completed for the actual war games.
He said the exercises would involve naval warfare, aerial combat scenario,
ground forces maneuvers and jungle warfare to be undertaken by the
Philippine Army's Special Forces and the US Green Berets, culminating in an
amphibious beach landing in Ternate, Cavite, on Feb. 28.
Tabores, an uninhabited island off Zambales, will be used as an ''impact
point'' by the Philippine Navy to test its weapons, according to Rear
Admiral Guillermo Wong, AFP deputy chief of staff for education and planning
(J-5).
Wong said the Navy would fire its 76-mm artillery during the live-fire
exercise on Feb. 21 to 28. He said the US Navy could join the exercise.
Mercado said the Philippine government had taken full security measures to
ensure the safety of the US troops in the wake of threats from the
communist-led New People's Army.
Mercado said a single attack by the NPA against an American soldier could
jeopardize the joint military activities and would give tremendous media
mileage to the communist movement.
But he said the government would not mind protest actions in full view of
the US troops for as long as these did not disrupt public order.
Mercado said he was confident that most Filipinos would welcome the American
presence here because the United States is a traditional ally.
Reyes said the military had intensified its intelligence gathering in all
the exercise venues--Pampanga, Tarlac, Cavite, Palawan and Metro Manila.
Activities in Palawan will be limited to civil-military operations and an
anti-malaria drive by both forces. Inquirer, 02/18/2000
ACTIVISTS GEAR UP FOR 2-DAY CARAVAN: Militant groups will launch a two-day
caravan and vigil from Manila to Angeles City in Pampanga to protest the
joint military exercise between the United States and the Philippines due to
start next week.
At a news conference yesterday, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the Junk
VFA Movement dubbed the protest action as the People's Caravan against the
US War Games. It will be held on Feb. 20-21.
According to Dan Vizmanos, Junk VFA convenor, the two-day protest-rally will
be held simultaneously in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, Cavite and Central
Luzon.
He said about 100 vehicles would converge at the Quezon City Memorial Circle
and from there travel in a convoy to the former Clark Air Base in Angeles.
The vehicles will be adorned in an anti-war-games and
anti-Visiting-Forces-Agreement fashion, he added.
The caravan will leave Quezon City at around 9 a.m. of Feb. 20. On the same
day, some 5,000 protesters will stage rallies at the main gate of the former
base, Vizmanos said.
In Manila, about 500 protesters will stage demonstrations in front of the US
Embassy and proceed to Pier 15 in the Manila North Harbor.
In Cavite, Vizmanos said, Bayan and Kalas-VFA will spearhead a motorcade
that will cover the towns of Naic, Maragondon, General Trias and Ternate.
The main picket will be held at the provincial capitol of Trece Martires
City.
Vizmanos also said that a ''torch march'' would be held on the evening of
Feb. 20 from San Fernando, Pampanga, to Angeles City, and that the
protesters would conduct a nightlong vigil at the former base's main gate.
On Feb. 21, all protesters coming from all points will merge to join the
People's Caravan. Inquirer, 02/18/2000
522 US SOLDIERS ARRIVE FOR WAR GAMES: A total of 522 American soldiers have
arrived in the Philippines to participate in joint military exercises after
a five-year lull, the military said yesterday as a group of women activists
protested at the US Embassy.
The presidential Palace, meanwhile, defended a port call by a US guided
missile destroyer in Palawan, near the disputed Spratly islands in the South
China Sea.
A military report said 257 of the US soldiers, including US special forces
troops, were billeted at undisclosed hotels in Manila while the rest were in
four other sites where the exercises are being held.
The bulk of the visiting troops arrived on Saturday from the US Kadena
Airbase in Okinawa, Japan. Two Blackhawk helicopters also landed in Manila.
A total of 2,500 US troops are expected to take part in the month-long
exercises, which were last held in 1995.
Exercises were suspended the year after due to the absence of a legal
framework covering visiting soldiers.
This was resolved last year when the Philippine Senate ratified a Visiting
Forces Agreement (VFA) which gave Washington jurisdiction over visiting US
soldiers who commit crimes while on official duty.
Women activists affiliated with the militant Movement for Nationalist
Democracy held a "Valentine's Day protest" outside the US Embassy to
denounce the war games.
About 30 women carried red heart-shaped placards which read "Goodbye GI Joe,
we don't want you" and "No to US war games."
They burned the placards before peacefully leaving the area 30 minutes
later. Phil. Star, 02/15/2000
PROTESTS GREET ARRIVAL OF US TROOPS IN CEBU: LAPULAPU CITY, Mactan--About
300 militants opposed to joint military exercises with the United States
yesterday picketed US troops making a rest and recreation stop here enroute
to Okinawa after a five-day humanitarian mission in East Timor.
''Yankees, go away,'' chanted the protesters belonging to the Junk the VFA
Movement and the Kilusang Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD).
KPD spokesperson Vic Balbuena said the presence of the US warship was a
violation of the Constitution.
The 250 US Marines, 300 sailors and 30 officers on board the USS Juneau, a
US amphibious transport ship, would be staying in Cebu City for five days of
rest and recreation, according to Lt. Lisa Brackenbury, the ship's public
affairs officer.
Brackenbury said they were not participating in the Balikatan joint
exercises going on in the north. More than 2,300 US soldiers are joining the
exercises which began in late January.
The USS Juneau docked at sea off Punta Engano, Mactan island. About 50 US
sailors took a landing craft that brought them to Pier 88 in Lapulapu City.
It was there that they encountered the protesters who had been waiting for
them since 9 a.m. yesterday. The militants ended their rally peacefully at
noon.
John Domingo, US honorary consult in Cebu City, explained that the goodwill
visit of USS Juneau was not part of any military exercises. Inquirer,
02/12/2000
