NAGPAKABANANG MGA KAHUGPUNGAN SA KATAWHAN SA SYUDAD SA SUGBO

C/o KILUSAN office at 690-C D. Jakosalem St., Brgy. Kamagayan, Cebu City

Tel. No.: (032) 253-9682

Email add: kpd_n_cebu@yahoo.com

Blogsite: http://kpd-cebu.blogspot.com

Sulat para sa mga Konsehal sa Syudad sa Sugbo nga Mabination sa mga Kabus nga taga-Dakbayan

(Para sa pagpapasar sa Moratorium on Demolisyon Ordinance)

Ang katawhang kabus nga taga Dakbayan sa Sugbo masulub-on sa karong panahon human sa balita nga gibabagan ni Mayor Mike Rama ang pagpapasar sa Ordinansa nga nagdumili sa pagdemolish sa mga pampublikong kayutaan subay sa hurisdiksyon sa Syudad sa Sugbo sulod sa usa ka tuig (Moratorium Against Demolition Ordinance).  Nagdag-om ang kalangitan subay sa pagkadismaya sa katawhang kabus ning maong balita.  Ang desisyon inanay sagpa ug  pangandoy sa mga kabus nipanaw.  Unta nga ang tinguha wala’y lain kung dili patas nga katungod dili gahum sa Gubyernong nitalikod sa konsituenteng gipanumpaan nga pagasilbihan.

Ang pangandoy alang sa desinte ug makatawhanong pagpuyo angay lang ipaduso hangtod maangkon kini.  Tungod ug gumikan nga batakang panginahanglan ug nilagdaan sa Balaod nga usa ka tawhanong katungod.  Apan wala kini ilha sa Gubyernong buta’ ug hakug sa gahum, ingon balaod gigamit pabor para sa mga adunahan ug mga dagkong tigpapatigayon.

Sa kahimtang namong mga kabus –walay yuta, walay balay, walay trabaho- gigamit ang among kaugalingong kusug aron makahatag ug serbisyo ngadto sa ubang kabus sama namo, imbis mahimong pabug-at sa katilingban, kini mismo kay dalaygon. Nakasugakod kami sa among pagpuyo pinaagi sa matinud-anon, kakugi, taas nga trabaho, bisan paman dili igo ang kita, dili sama sa mga opisyal sa gobyerno nga naglungkab sa kwarta sa publiko.

Kay miserabli ang among kinabuhi, ug ang among pagtumaw sa kayutaan sa Syudad kay hugaw sa panan-aw sa mga adunahan ug gamhanan, kini dili among tinuyuan. Ang katilingban mao ang nagpaubos sa ing-ani nga kahimtang; ug ang katilingban ang angayang magbuhat ug maayong opurtunidad alang kanamo aron mapalambo kini. Ang kamaut ug kakabus sa among pagpuyo dili matabunan sa mga pangpagwapa lang nga kausaban, sama sa gustong buhaton sa gobyerno ni Rama. Hinuon, ang lihok ni Mayor Rama sa pagpagwapa/panindot naghatag ug mas grabing kadaut sa kinabuhi sa mga kabus.

Sama sa uban, nagbayad usab kami ug buhis. Tungod walay makaikyas sa VAT. Naa kami’y susamang katungod ni bisan kinsang nagbayad ug buhis nga maserbisyohan sa gobyerno.   Kami mga Pilipino, kinsa anaay patrimonyang katungod niining Pilipinas ug labaw sa tanan sa ni bisan kinsang langyaw. Sama sa ubang Pilipino, naghandom kami ug paglambo. Simpli lang namong gipangayo nga sa unsa man o tanang kalambuan kinahanglan maapil, dili kay walay labot, ang kabag-ang  kabus, ilabi na ang apektado/nagpakabanang sektor.

Ug labaw sa tanan, mga tawo kami, kabahin sa katawhan. Naghuna-huna, mubati, nag-ugmad nga mga tawo nga naningkamot nga magamit among tawhanong kapasidad aron mabuhat among bahin sa kini nga katilingban.  Apan sa among kapasikaran nanginahanglan sa inyong tabang, tabang para kami mulambo ug makatagamtam man lang sa gamay’ng kahupayan ug alibyo gikan sa demolisyon.  Minghangyo nga unta kamo bumati kanamo.

Nga ang Administrasyon ni Rama mihikaw kanamo sa among pulos isip tawo ug ang among dignidad isip tawo- aron ang langyaw nga mamuhunan moginansya ug ang mga turista malingaw.

Unta dili kamo susama ni Mayor Mike Rama nga mitalikod na kanamo.  Hangyo namo nga unta inyong ipapasar ang Ordinansa nga muhatag kanamo ug kahigayunan nga makig-alayon sa Gubyerno aron kami makiangayon nga mapahimutang ug dili yanong sikad-sikaran.  Inyong boto sa ummabot Miyerkules, Nobyembre 25, 2015 among bantayan.  Itratar isip inyong timaan sa inyong gipanumpaan.  Hangyo kami kaninyo, saksi ang langit, dungga ang tingug sa katawhang kabus kaninyo nangaliyupo.  IPAPASAR ANG ORDINANSA!

Nagkahiusa sa ngalan sa katawhang nagpakabana,

Emalyn M. Aliviano

Spokesperson

Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya-Cebu (KILUSAN-Cebu)

Elizabeth Dicdican

President

Pagkakaisa ng mga Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (KAISA KA-Mambaling)

Soledad Cordova

Representative-Council of Leaders

United Small Vendors of Cebu City (USVCC)

Roldan Dicdican

Acting President

Sitio Naba Neighborhood Association (SNNA)

Floro Enricoso

President

Alliance of People’s Organization Working for Empowerment and Resettlement (ALLPOWER)

Ronald Lamberte

President

Warwick Barracks Relocated Vendors’ Urban Poor Association (WBRVUPA)

Virginia Canoy

President

Sitio Tangke Home Owners’ Association (STHOA)

Marifel Candia

President

Sitio Tangke Panaghiusa Residents’ Association

Crisis and War Clouds over APEC 2015 Summit

The administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino (PNoy) is hosting the 23^rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Summit on November 18-19. This is the second time the Philippines is venue for the gathering of 21 heads of “economies” that all belong to world’s top 50. 

The neo-liberal globalization jargon “economy”, instead of state or government, is used not just to accommodate Hong Kong and Taiwan. The word “economy” creates a false sense the summit is not a global political event. This is despite the fact that the world’s leading economic and military powers, the US, China, Russia and Japan, are members of APEC.  Any major move by any of them, especially by the US, influence and can change the world situation 

Crisis and war clouds overshadow APEC 2015

Several earth-shaking developments have happened since 1996, the first time APEC Leaders’ Summit was held in the Philippines. That was 5 years to 9/11 and start of “US War against Terror”. There were then no US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and no US-backed wars in East Ukraine and Yemen. There was no Islamic State (IS) yet at that time, though the al Qaeda and Taliban were already known.

That was 19 years to the start of Russia-led “War against Islamic State (IS)”. It was 18 years before the simmering conflict in South China reached boiling point. It was 19 years before the US pointed at China and Russia as the challengers to the global order it has been shaping since the end of World War 2. That was 12 years to the 2008 outbreak of the global crisis that persists until now.

APEC 2015 is overshadowed by crisis and war clouds. The 7-year crisis has further worsened. Since the outbreak of the crisis, every succeeding annual APEC Summit was tense. In the 2014 summit in China, US President Obama held sideline meetings with heads of countries that were approved for membership in the China-less Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  

Intense finance and trade rivalry between US and China

APEC 2015 comes at the heels of the signing of the draft agreement on TPP by 12 countries last October 5. TPP is a US scheme to remain the dominant economy dictating the terms of global investment and trade. President Obama confirmed this to media, “Because if we (US) don’t, China would”.

The TPP countries are APEC members: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, USA and Vietnam. TPP would be open to new members after the draft agreement is ratified by the 12 founding members.

The TPP is worse than critics expected. It would thoroughly liberalize and deregulate national economies for the greater freedom of movement and profit-making of leading American and Japanese private monopolists especially in automobile, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries. TPP would make labor more flexible and deregulated, especially on wages and job security.  It opens wider the gates for trade in services, which is mainly the traffic of skilled labor and professionals, whereby foreign investors can bring workers from their home bases and low-wage countries.

The stalled negotiations for TPP were activated and pushed by the US after 50 of 57 founding member-countries of China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) confirmed their membership in the signing ceremony in Beijing last June 29.  Other than China, signatories include Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Iran, Israel, Brazil, Russia, India, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and others.  The 7 other founding members- Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Poland and Kuwait, are yet to confirm membership and each one’s amount of share in the bank. Twenty (20) more countries applied for membership in the AIIB. 

China-led AIIB is not in the purview of APEC though it certainly would matter in the coming summit. The US and Japan are not joining AIIB. It would surely compete with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank that the two countries dominate.

Wars and escalating war provocations

Millions of refugees from wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere poured into Europe, welcomed by Europeans, but barred by their governments. The endless wars that US wages and supports have displaced over 60M people worldwide, the largest number of refugees since World War 2.  Annual US war and military spending is nearly 50% of world’s total defense and military expenditures! But the fund of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is not even 1% of US’s annual military and war budget! 

Despite the refugee crisis, the frequency of beatings of war drums intensified. US-Russia and US-China wars are now close to reality. Russia-US war is hairline to reality since the former engaged directly in bombing the IS and other terrorist groups in Syria. The world knows that the IS, Al Nusra and al Qaeda are “allies” of and aided by the US in the already four years “civil war” to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria.  The war that has raged from 2011 has already caused the death of more than 250,000 Syrian civilians.

The US is not serious about Russia’s proposal for a political solution to the war in Syria. For the US, it’s ”the head of Assad or war”. After its training of “moderate rebels” failed miserably, the US is ready to deploy 50 soldiers from its Special Forces to assist the “Free Syrian Army” even as it continues to arm the IS. Lately the US is considering the deployment of F-15 jet fighter planes to Syria. F-15 is designed mainly for aerial battles with US’s enemy’s warplanes.    

In the APEC side of the world, the US, a non-party to the dispute, has taken over and has raised the territorial row in the South China Sea among China, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan,  to direct confrontation with China. The adamant assertion by China of “territorial sovereignty” over reefs and shoals altered into “islands” with structures for defense purposes and its outright disregard of the rights of other claimants, give reasons for the US to raise its war banner with “freedom of navigation” slogan.

The US has stepped-up its challenge to China’s assertion. US Navy destroyer, USS Lassen deliberately sailed within the 12 nautical mile territorial limit of China-claimed Subi Reef last October 27. This elicited sharp, “We are not afraid of war”, reaction from China. Just days before the 2015 APEC Summit, the US, the declining but still the mightiest nation-state on earth, jacked-up war provocations on China. Two US B-52 bombers conducted “routine flight” over the “artificial islands” of China.

This is despite the case filed by the Philippines against China before the International Tribunal on Law of the Seas (ITLOS). Other claimants have done the same before, but China just ignored them. Now, in the eve of APEC 2015, China is passing on to the Philippines the burden of undoing the “troubles” arising from filing the case. 

Japan is also adding to the rising tension.  The Abe government of Japan, in contravention of its constitution, passed militarist laws redefining Japan’s self defense posture into “collective self-defense” and its pacifist policy into “proactive pacifism”.  This move was condemned by China and South Korea and earned negative remarks from Australia. Only the US and Philippine presidents praised Abe for the passage of the laws despite strong opposition by the Japanese people.

APEC: Dysfunctional mechanism for economic co-operation and peaceful co-existence    

Twenty heads of “economies” are coming to Manila. The leading figures are US President Obama, China’s President Xi Jin ping, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, Russia’s PM Dmitry Medvedev and, South Korea’s President Park Geun-ye.

The theme of the APEC 2015 Leaders’ Summit, “Building inclusive economies; Building a better world”, is ironic.  The China-less TPP that favors big private monopoly capitalists is top in the agenda of the summit. The agenda includes climate change and disaster preparedness. But the US and the other big powers are pursuing wars and preparing for bigger wars that would certainly aggravate the humanitarian crisis resulting from present wars.

APEC security was beefed-up starting today following the series of shootings and bombings by alleged IS elements that left more than 120 people dead in Paris, France. The vicinity of Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City has been transformed into veritable war zone, complete with anti-aircraft weapons.

The 2015 APEC Leaders’ Summit is a monument to a more dysfunctional multi-lateral mechanism for global progress and peace. The Filipino people have to bear the burden of hosting the summit, which is an arena for big power rivalry, at the cost of P10B of public funds and the curtailment of their freedom of movement and right to protest along with peoples of other nationalities.

Genuine international progress and peace rely on the solidarity and struggle of the world’s peoples against the moribund, decadent and predatory – crisis and war prone- global capitalism.

Dismantle APEC!

Advance international solidarity and struggle against imperialism, crisis and war!

IPAPASAR ANG MORATORIUM ORDINANCE ON DEMOLITION AND EVICTION WITHIN THE PUBLIC LANDS OF CEBU CITY

Nobyembre 13, 2014

Ang desente, hapsay, ug adunay dignidad nga kapuy-an ug pabalay usa ka batakang panginahanglunon sa taw isip mag-protekta sa atoa sa unsa mang matang sa panahon. Usa kini ka pundamental nga katungod nato ug kini giila sa mga International Human Rights Movement ug sa atoa mismong Konstitusyon ug sa ingon nga angay kini nga paga-respetuhon.

Apan ubos sa administrasyon ni Mayor Mike Rama ug sa iyang mantra nga “Hapsayon ang gubot, Limpyuhon ang hugaw, Pahumuton ang baho”, gikan sa iyang paglingkod isip mayor sa syudad ug hantod karon, daghan ang mga demolisyon ug mga clearing operations nga napatuman sa nagkadaiyang komunidad ug mga kadalanan kung hain kini hingpit nga gipatuman. Pero kung imong tukion ang mga nahitabong clearing operations nga ilang gipatuman ug gipahigayun, kasagaran ini iligal o wala naga-subay sa saktong proseso ug pamaagi sa balaod. Susama sa nahipalgan sa mga taga Warwick Barracks, Carbon kun hain human sila nasunugan o gi-sunog atong Enero sa niaging tuig, wala na sila gi-pabalik sa maong luna kung asa sila tawhanong nagpakabuhi, ug ang sobrang panimalay nga wala masunog, gi-demolis pud sab, madugo nga demolisyon ang nahipalgan sa mga taw didto. Hangtud karon nagpabiling nakigbisug ug naghandom ang mga taga Warwick Barracks nga sila mahataga’g hustisya tungod kay katungod sa kapuy-an ug panginabuhian mismo ang gihikaw sa ilaha. Mao pud sab ang nahipalgan sa mga sidewalk vendors sa syudad, ubos sa polisiyang Zero Vending Policy, sila nakasinati ug pagpang-harass sa han-ay sa mga PROBE gikan adtong Nobyembre niaging tuig ug hantod karon, biktima pud sab sila sa mga clearing operations nga dili makiangayon tungod kay wala gyud kini konsultasyon sa han-ay sa mga vendors ug walay saktong alternatibo o relokasyon para sa ilaha ilabi na sa mga vendors sa N. Bacalso(E-Mall ug South Bus Terminal), katungod kini sa panginabuhian ug dili dapat nga ihikaw sa ilaha.

Daghan pang mga komunidad sa dakbayan ang nakasinati aning mga demolisyon sa ngalan sa mga dagkong negosyo nga mao ang prayoridad sa atong gobyernu karon, ang kapait lang ang mga kabus gipangsalikway. Gatusan na ka pamilya nga hangtud karon, nagpabilin nga wala pa gyud intawn mahiluna, tungud kay desenteng panimalay ug panginabuhian ang nahikaw sa ilaha, mga estudyante nga nahunong nalang sap ag-eskwela. Unsa nalay palaabuton sa atong mga pamilya, kaugmaon sa atong mga anak kun kini nga pamaagi nila magpabilin nga hingpit.

Busa magkahiusa kita sa pag-uyon ug pag-suporta aron mapapasar kini sa Mayor ang duh aka ordinansa nga Moratorium on Eviction or Demolition of Dwelings in Public Lands o gang Ordinansa pagpasiguro sa pagpatuman sa Sec. 28 sa UDHA kun Urban Development and Housing Act. Kini nga mga ordinansa mupugong sa demolisyon kungwala pa kini mu-agi sa saktong proseso sa balaud ug kung hain siguruhon nga anaa ang pag-konsulta sa mga apektado, ug pagtugot sa Local Housing Board nga muhimo para sa checklisting, maghimu ug guidelines, ug magsiguro pagpasunod sa probisyon sa UDHA, ug labaw sa tanan ang paghatag ug alternatibo nga haum sa mga direktang apektado sa demolisyon o sa katawhang kabus. Kini nga mga ordinansa gi-aprubahan o napapasar na sa Konseho, kang Mayor Mike Rama nalang.

Walay maayong rason nga dili kini aprubahan sa mayor kay obligasyon kini niya isip amahan sa syudad ug labaw sa tanan, interes kini sa katawhan tungod kay katungod kini nato isip taw nga adunay dignidad, dili kita mga hayop nga pwede lang sa bisan-asa magpuyo.

Phiblex 16: Cruel Memorial to Jennifer’s Murder

The 31st edition of Philippine Amphibious Landing Exercise—Phiblex, has just ended.  The annual war exercise of US and Philippine Marines and Navies was held, October 1-9.  The 2015 version, Phiblex 16, was joined by 1,000 US Marines from Okinawa, Japan and 1,000 Filipino sailors and marines, according to news on Phil. Navy website.  Japanese and Thai soldiers also took part in the war games, as reported by GMA News online.

Phiblex 15 of 2014 was joined by 5,000 American and Filipino marines and sailors. One of the US Marines is Joseph Scott Pemberton.  Phiblex 16, thus, rubs salt on the ever-open wound of continued trampling of Philippine sovereignty. This is an insulting reminiscence of the murder of Jennifer Laude by US Marine Lance Corporal Pemberton. 

The crime was committed in the evening of October 11, 2014.  The American marines and sailors were on liberty after Phiblex 15.  The US Navy ships that saw action in Phiblex 15 were berthed at former permanent, now “regular”, US Naval Base in Subic, Zambales. One of the ships was USS Peleliu where the US Marines unit of Pemberton was assigned.

The trial of Pemberton, on murder charge, at the RTC branch 74, Olongapo City, is through. Pemberton admitted he choked the transgender Filipina in “self-defense”.  Only a moron would believe him. The autopsy done on the body, which was bruised all-over and with broken neck, tells Jennifer was killed in a manner the US Marines are trained to do.   

But the court is yet to rule on Pemberton’s case. It is expected by December, one year since the trial

began. Paragraph 6, Article 5 on Criminal Jurisdiction, of the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) states: if the judicial proceedings are not completed in one year, “the US is relieved of obligations…” The obligations include presenting the accused before the court and most of all, keeping custody of the accused.   The circuitous and verbose provisions of Article 5 confirm the US-RP VFA favors the United States. 

From the time he was charged until now, Pemberton is detained in the US facility inside Camp Aguinaldo, the Headquarters of the AFP.  He is guarded by US Marines.  A scratching insult to all Filipinos who dearly value sovereignty! 

Justice for Jennifer, demanded by Filipinos, is hanging in thin air. Though the evidences for murder charge are strong, Pemberton’s admission could likely lessen the penalty. The next struggle is on the location of Pemberton’s imprisonment. The Filipino people should fight for Philippine jurisdiction against US’s wielding its advantage under the one-sided VFA. 

The people should pursue the struggle for genuine sovereignty. The US has long trampled upon it.  The series of governments until the present have been subservient to US designs and interests. The government of Noynoy Aquino, instead of ending the VFA, even signed, with the US, a new basing arrangement for “rotating” US military forces in the country thus, perpetuating unequal relations with the US.

Justice for Jennifer and the Filipino people!

Fight for national sovereignty!

PADAYAG PARA SA ADLAW PAGHINUMDUM SA KAMATAYON NI JENNIFER LAUDE, SA KAMATAYON SA SOBERENYA SA PILIPINAS

Tel. No.: (032) 253-9682/ Blogsite: http://kpd-cebu.blogspot.com/

FB Acct.: KILUSAN CEBU/ Email Add.: kpd_n_cebu@yahoo.com

October 11, 2015

Usa ka tuig na ang nilabay gikan sa makalilisang nga pagpatay ni Jennifer Laude, ang transgender woman nga nahipalgang patay sa usa ka motel human nga gi-arm lock ug gilumsan ni Lance Cpl. Scott Pemberton.  Usa ka kagabhiun nga wala damha sa pamilyang Laude nga katapusan na nilang makitang buhi si Jennifer.  Usa ka panghitabo nga masulub-on dili lamang para sa pamilya ni Jennifer, apan masulub-on usab para sa tanang mga LGBT ug sa katawhang Pilipino sa kinatibuk-an.

Walay katarungan ang posibleng makabarug aron maingon nga insakto lang ang pagpatay ni Jennifer, siya nga walay ikasarang nga mudepensa sa kaugalingon, si Jennifer nga napahiubos sa kusog ug kapungot ni Pemberton tungod ug gumikan sa pagkapakyas ni Pemberton sa iyang tumong nga matagbaw sa iyang lawasnong panginahanglan!  Susama sa uban pang LGBT, naalaot si Jennifer sa usa ka tipo ug mabangis nga diskriminasyon.  Susama sa kabag-ang kababayen-an nga naalaot kung dili man napanamastamasan ug nadaug-daog ubos sa kabangis sa sistemang patriyarkal ug pagtratar nga butang kapahimuslan (object of desire) ang babaye sa katilingban.

Apan ang pagkamatay ni Jennifer di lamang usa ka simple og ordinaryong krimen nga angay natong kapungtan ug pagkakondenahon, ang iyang pagkamatay timaan sa pagkalubog o pagyatak sa tibuok natong katungod sa atong nasud ilabi na sa atong katungod sa kaugalingnan o soberenya!  Ang mga basehan mao ang mga musunod:

1.         Ang nakapatay ni Jennifer Laude nga si Lance Cpl. Scott Pemberton, usa ka sundalong Amerikano nga nidapit sa atong nasud para sa usa lamang ka military exercise o pagbansay-militar.  Usa ka langyaw!
2.      Ang nagtugot sa pareho ni Pemberton nga makalaroy-laroy  sa atong nasud nga libre sa mga panubagon sa unsa mang mga kalapasan sulod sa atong nasud mao ang kasabutan nga VFA ug gipatuman sa EDCA kun Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement hain nagtugot pag-usab sa presensya sa mga dinaghan nga mga sundalong mga Amerikano ug pagdala sa ilang mga armas ug mga pasilidad de militar sulod sa atong nasud ug sa pagtinuod, magbase na usab dinhi sila!
3.     Kasamatangang giatubang ni Pemberton ang kasong Murder ug gipaabut na ang desisyon sa Korte sa dili pa o sa mismong adlaw sa Disyembre 14 ning maong tuiga.  Apan adunay huhungihong nga kini mapaubos sa kasong Homicide—usa ka krimen nga sa simpleng pag-isplikar, wala matuyo o walay intensyong mupatay.  Dako ang mamahimong epekto niini kung sa hisgutanan sa silot nga mapahamtang sa kang Pemberton.  Labing kapait pa, posibleng aregluhon lamang sa atong Gubyerno o sa gubyerno sa US ang maong kaso ingon dili hingpit nga mapatuman ang hustisya sa pagkamatay ni Jennifer

Ang tanan nga gisaysay nga mga basehan, mga punto nga gikinahanglan ang atong pakabana ug paglimbasug! 

Kung dili mapatuman ang balaod ug ang silot sa mga kalapasan sa atong mga balaud ngadto sa mga abusadong mga langyaw, mudaghan pa ang mga pagpangabuso sa mga langyaw natong mga Pilipino, ug kini anaa pa sa atong kaugalingon yutang natawhan!

Kung dili mababagan ang EDCA ug mapabasura ang VFA, mas mudaghan pa ang susamang mga krimen nga mahitabo tungod mas daghan pang mga sundalong Amerikano ang mudapit sa atong nasud sa umaabot nga mga buwan kung kini maaprubahan sa Korte Suprema ang constitutionality niini!  Karong Disyembre 15 usab ang desisyon kabahin ani!  Sa kasayuran sa tanan, ang EDCA, wala magahatag ug gahum sa atong Gubyerno aron madumalaan o maipatuman ang atong mga balaod tungod sulod sa maong kasabutan gyud mismo ang pagkalas sa gahum sa Gubyerno sa Pilipinas sa mga sundalong Amerkano ug sa ilang mga kagamitang-militar!

Kung dili maipatuman ang pagkabalhug ni Pemberton sa atong prisohan, samot kung mapaubos ang krimen ug silot niini, walay integridad ug walay kabililhun na ang atong soberenya sa nasud, ang atong sistema sa hustisya!  Usa kini ka pag-biay-biay sa atong demokrasya! Sa atong katungod isip gawasnun ug may soberenya nga nasud!

GIAWHAG NAMO ANG PUBLIKO NGA MULANTAW SA ATONG KAHIMTANG SA NASUD UBOS SA MAO GIHAPONG PAGPANGULIPON SA U.S. nga nagpakita sa pagkamatay ni Jennifer.  Dili pa maundang ang susamang mga krimen parehas sa pagkapatay sa SAF 44 hain aduna usab nga kalambigitan sa maong opersayon ang US military kung dili nato pugngan ang pagpapasar sa EDCA ug kung dili nato mapabasura ang VFA.

Pakigbisugan nato ang atong katungod sa soberenya pinaagi sa pagpadangat sa atong tingog ngadto sa kagamahanan nga ipahamtang ang hustisya para sa pamilyang Laude ug para sa tibuok katawhang Pilipino pinaagi sa pagpapabalhug ug pagsilot ni Pemberton ubos sa balaod sa Pilipinas!

Lig-on nga panalipdan ang atong integridad ug dignidad isip PILIPINO

Ipaduso ang tiunay nga Hustisya ug Demokrasya!

Oppose basing of US forces in the country! Reject EDCA!

B

alikatan 2015 is soon over.  This year’s war exercise had almost 12,000 soldiers participating.  They include 6,656 Americans, 61 Australians and 5,023 Filipinos.  Last year’s Balikatan included 2,500 US soldiers.  

Other than being a bigger war exercise, Balikatan 2015 signifies something more. By the time it ends in ceremonies at Clark Special Economic Zone, the former US Air Force base in Pampanga, the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) will have turned one year old.  Also, a contingent of thousands of US soldiers is a grave insult to Filipinos who are seeking justice for a transgender Pinay a US marine corporal gruesomely murdered just 6 months ago.

Clark and the erstwhile US Naval base in Subic, Zambales are among several sites for the war games. The US military contingent of more than 6,000 soldiers, 3 ships and 76 aircrafts would definitely need the facilities of its former bases for billeting, ship berthing and aircraft parking.    

With its size, Balikatan 2015 is a prelude to the eventual re-basing of US troops in the country. US’s and Philippines’ military officials consider the two former US military bases among “agreed locations” as defined under EDCA. Representatives of the two governments signed the new basing arrangement for US armed forces on April 28, 2014 during US President Obama’s visit in the Philippines.

EDCA provides for US military’s use of “agreed locations” within Philippine military camps for the basing of its “rotating forces”.   A Philippine Air Force camp is located near Clark international airport, which was originally designed for use by US military aircraft of all types. In fact, an air unit of the US Navy, the Patrol Squadron 45, now stations in Clark on rotational basis.  Patrol Squadron 45 is a support unit the US 7^th fleet and is equipped with a P-A8 Poseidon, the newest maritime intelligence-gathering aircraft of the US Navy.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has reserved a 200-hectare area covering the former naval magazine or arsenal, ship repair facilities and airfield in Subic as Philippine Navy Base. Subic, which like Clark supposedly ceased to be a military base after the Philippine Senate rejected a new basing agreement in 1991, is a regular “port of call” of US Navy ships and submarines even before the drafting of the EDCA.

The Philippines in more than a century of US global designs

The strategic location of the Philippines has consistently served the US in projecting, expanding and maintaining its global hegemony ever since it arose as an imperialist power at the turn of the 20^th century.  Such importance of the country to the US first concretely manifested in 1900 when the US sent its soldiers from the Philippines to China. The dispatched US Marines and Army troops formed the US contingent in the international force that suppressed the Chinese Boxer Rebellion.  Some years later, in 1918, around 2,000 US Marines sailed from the Philippines to Vladivostok to support the rebellion of “White” Russians.    

As the only imperialist superpower at the end of World War 2 and at the start of the Cold War era in 1948, the US launched wars of intervention and aggression to “contain communism” and “defend the free world” whenever and wherever there is threat to its interests.  The Philippines as host to two strategic US military bases was party to US war in Korea (1950-1953) and later, in the longer war in Indochina, especially in Vietnam (1954-1975). The Philippines also sent combat soldiers to Korea and armed civic action troops to Vietnam.

This role was assigned by the US to the Philippines through various treaties and agreements the two parties signed on the day and after the US granted “independence” to its “former” colony in 1946.  The US, in 47 years of its direct rule over the country from 1899, has laid the foundations for its continued use of the Philippines as launching pad and as “partner” for its global designs.

For years since “independence”, the US assumed unrestrained authority over Philippine territories reserved for military and defence purposes and jurisdiction over its military and defence personnel in the country. The US-RP Military Bases Agreement (MBA), signed on March 14 1947 and the Military Assistance Pact, March 21, 1947 further enforced the powers that the Treaty of General Relations (signed July 4, 1946) dictated. The Treaty of General Relations, ironically, is the document that states the “granting of independence” to the Philippines.

The Mutual Defence Treaty (August 30, 1951), which remains in force until now, sustains the authority of the US. The MDT perpetuates the “special security relations” between the Philippines and US.  The MDT serves as the framework and basis for the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and EDCA.

The Filipino people, especially those in Pampanga, Zambales and Tarlac, and, in more recent years, those in Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga and in other places in Mindanao, had known what it takes to host a dominant foreign military force. A long string of crimes perpetrated by US troopers—murders and massacres, abuses on women, maltreatment of workers, harassment of fishers and indigenous people—have accompanied hosting of foreign troopers who were free from Philippine jurisdiction.         

Generations of Filipinos have struggled against US domination and opposed US troops’ presence and operation in the Philippines. Every generation contributed a significant number of their finest sons and daughters to the struggle.   The struggles however had only managed to assert certain rights and some significant concessions like shortened term of the MBA but US domination persists.

Heighten the struggle to be free from being an appendage of the militarist USA   

A high point in the Filipino people’s struggle for sovereignty was reached when the Salonga-led Philippine Senate rejected another basing treaty in 1991.  The rejection of the treaty gave the opportunity to convert Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Base from military and war purposes into commercial and productive economic uses. Almost 100,000 hectares of land the two former bases occupy are now special economic zones that include industrial parks, real estate and commercial areas and tourism-oriented sites.  The two economic zones are employing more than double the number of people employed when these were military bases.  While open to all, however, the two economic zones are catering principally to foreign investors. 

Certain areas also remain restricted like the naval magazine site in Subic and the practice bombing and gunnery site in Crow Valley in Tarlac, an extension of the former Clark airbase.  The US naval communication station in San Antonio, Zambales, although officially has become a Philippine Naval base, remains functional for the US military.  

The fading derogatory labels of the US military base cities of Olongapo as “Sin City” and Angeles as “City of Angels” re-shine whenever American troops are around for the regular war exercises. In fact after EDCA was signed, bar and club owners, prodded by both cities’ governments, displayed streamers with messages like “Welcome, we love you US military”.

With or without bases, special arrangements between the two parties sustained US troops’ presence in the Philippines.  Just before the 1947 MBA expired in 1992, the chiefs of US and Philippine armed forces signed the Access and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) on November 7, 1992.  The US succeeded later in having the VFA ratified by the Philippine Senate on May 27, 1999.  Then the US Department of Defence and its Philippine counterpart signed the 5-year extendable Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) in 2002. 

But these agreements are not enough for the superpower US to concretize the ambiguous terms of the MDT for its current needs and schemes. The present US strategy of Asian Pivot or the deployment of 60% of its naval and air forces to Asia-Pacific means more bases for increased number of US troops in “rotating” tours of duty.  The US principally directs the Asian Pivot against its chief rival, China, which has territorial disputes with, among others, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The US and the Philippines used China’s aggressiveness in asserting and claiming its extended territory as a strong argument for a new basing arrangement for “rotating” US forces in the Philippines.   Thus, they crafted EDCA through more than 8 rounds of secret talks but finally signed publicly last year.   

Resist US troops’ basing in the Philippines! Reject EDCA and all unequal security relations with US!

Oppose US global militarism! 

Fight for the Filipino people’s sovereignty!

Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KILUSAN)

April 28, 2015