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January 19, 2002, Philippine Daily Inquirer, US senator stirs furor for remark on RP, by Cynthia D. Balana and Gerald G. Lacuarta,
THE STATEMENT of a United States senator that the Philippines could be the next Afghanistan has triggered an uproar, with senators seeking a personal briefing from President Macapagal-Arroyo on the presence of US troops and activist groups demanding their immediate pullout.
A number of senators, mostly from the opposition, have filed a resolution stating that it was the duty of the head of state to inform the Senate about the legal parameters of the US military's supposed intervention in Philippine affairs. The Senate is the treaty-ratifying chamber of Congress.
Rafael Mariano, chair of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, (KMP), said Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes had made the Philippines "an extension of Fort Bragg."
"All US troops must be immediately pulled out of Philippine soil while a congressional inquiry is going on," Mariano said. "These Yankees must go home."
Wilson Fortaleza, president of the militant Sanlakas, said there was reason to believe Sen. Sam Brownback's statement and pointed out that this was the same view expressed by Newsweek international editor Fareed Zakaria.
Fortaleza noted that CNN asked Zakaria last month if he thought that the US would expand the anti-terrorist war to Iraq and the journalist replied, "No, I don't think it will be Iraq. More likely, a country like the Philippines."
The INQUIRER had learned that CNN is devoting a 30-minute special coverage of the US troops here for airing in the US.
"The controversial 'Balikatan' exercise in Basilan is a cover-up," Fortaleza said. "It is not a simple military exercise. It is an extension of the US war in Afghanistan. It is not a product of an official bilateral agreement between the US and the Philippines. It's more of a shady deal between US President George W. Bush and President Macapagal-Arroyo."
The President, however, would not hear of the Philippines being compared to Afghanistan.
"(Brownback's statement is) just from their point of view," she told reporters at Isla Puting Bato in Tondo, Manila. "As far as I'm concerned, we've been fighting terrorists before. After the Sept. 11 (terrorist attack in the US), they (the Americans) joined us."
Brownback had said the Philippines would be the next Afghanistan because the United States would also be waging war here against local terrorists.
Over 600 US military personnel were allowed to go to Basilan, stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf bandits, and nearby Zamboanga supposedly for joint "training exercises."
Authorities said the US forces would help the military fight the Abu Sayyaf but would not join actual combat operations.
But critics say the plan is illegal because the Constitution bans the presence of foreign troops here.
Legal framework
Sen. Blas Ople, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, said that while the chamber supported a strong stand against global terrorism, all pertinent agreements should be within the framework of the Constitution and existing laws.
Ople noted that the government had been speaking with discordant voices on the issue. But he dismissed Brownback's statement, saying the US senator was speaking "from a complete ignorance of Philippine reality."
"We're not going to be another Afghanistan or Vietnam because the problem here is confined to one area in Mindanao," he said.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan said the proposed security briefing by the President would provide Congress a candid assessment of the government's campaign against kidnapping as well as the status of the victims.
"This non-partisan session with the President and her advisers will hopefully erase any legal and constitutional questions lingering against the joint military exercise," he said.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said Brownback's statement added confusion because it contradicted that of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the US troops were here for joint training exercises.
"I do not refuse the American offer of assistance," he said. "But only if the government comes to the conclusion that we are not capable of eradicating the Abu Sayyaf and the other terrorist groups with our own resources, and if their assistance is in the proper form and undergoes the appropriate processes."
Biazon said it was Congress' responsibility to ascertain that all such arrangements were transparent.
'His own war'
Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, Armed Forces chief of staff, tried to allay fears that the Philippines would become the next Afghanistan.
He said the AFP viewed the "Balikatan" exercises "as a means of enhancing our capability."
"We assure our people that it will be the Filipino soldier who will fight (his) own war within our territory," Villanueva said. "Nothing more than that will happen."
But Sen. Joker Arroyo pointed out that the presence of US troops in Basilan and Zamboanga was an implied admission by the AFP that it could not defeat the Abu Sayyaf.
"This is lamentable because it speaks volumes of the state of affairs and capacity of the AFP, which the government must address. The country must wake up," he said.
Arroyo added: "Who invited who? That is the question. It cannot be left unanswered. The government is duty-bound to answer that."
House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla said that aside from Brownback's statement, the fact that Vice President Teofisto Guingona was supposedly kept in the dark about the RP-US military exercises showed that "the Filipino is not being told the truth."
"The President keeps on saying that the American troops are here for joint military exercises, but here comes a US senator saying otherwise," Padilla said in a phone interview. "The statement of Brownback gives the impression that he has an authoritative source."
He urged the President to tell the public the real reason behind the Balikatan exercises.
Another opposition lawmaker, Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, said Brownback's statement proved that US troops were being sent here to rescue the missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham from their Abu Sayyaf captors.
"With the situation right now, the Philippine military is calling the shots, and not the Department of Foreign Affairs," he said.
Negros Occidental Rep. Apolinario Lozada Jr. expressed alarm at Brownback's statement.
"My suspicion is, if a member of the US Congress endorses the stationing of troops here, Washington has discussed this with the US Congress," he said. "There must be something to it that we are not allowed to see. I am alarmed by that comment because it seems the US government wants to get into our country permanently."
Lozada chairs the House foreign affairs committee, which has been asked to investigate the presence of the US troops here.
It was Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo who filed the resolution seeking an inquiry by the committee. The resolution was eventually co-authored by 12 congressmen, including Lozada and other members of the House majority and minority.
'Second invasion'
The militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya urged the Filipino people to intensify resistance against the "second American invasion."
"Direct from the horse's mouth, Brownback's statement is tantamount to an ultimate declaration of war against the Filipino people," said Pamalakaya information officer Gerry Albert-Corpuz. "We must do something to stop the US mercenaries from killing people and exporting their war of aggression to other nations critical of US geopolitical, economic and military agenda."
He advised the Macapagal administration to ask the American senator, who is a member of the US Senate foreign relations committee, to disclose the basis for his remark. With reports from Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Martin P. Marfil, Christine Avendano, Juliet L. Javellana
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