Clearing the vacuum

As a media report on the United States Government surreptitiously re-building a foreign military base within Philippine territory stirred a hornet's nest, reactions—favorable and otherwise—compounded like dominoes, dropping one after the other.

Yet, following that, the US Embassy in Manila had not released an official statement categorically denying so. It took a visiting team of US legislators to address the issue and blatantly deny such allegation and fill the lacuna left for the common Filipino to make his own deductions.

US BASES ELSEWHERE

United For Peace and Justice had a report on the Us Military Troops and Bases Around the World, citing their relevance and the costs of "permanent war". Said report stated that the US Military has over a thousand bases in 63 countries, and since September 11, 2001, more had been established ijn seven countries, with US military presence in 156 countries. (United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1300 local and national groups throughout the United States who have joined together to protest the immoral and disastrous Iraq War and oppose US government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building.)

The Wikipedia (2007) on the other hand states that there are about 6,000 military bases and/or military warehouses within US territories, manned by a total force of military personnel of about 1.4 million in within the United States and its territories. The same source records 325,000 US military personnel deployed in foreign countries, 97,000 of whom are in Asia (excluding the Middle East and Central Asia), 40,258 in South Korea, 40,045 in Japan, 491 at the Diego Garcia Base in the Indian Ocean, 196 in Singapore, 113 in Thailand, 200 in Australia, 16,601 afloat, 800 in Africa, and about a hundred in the Philippines.

The Philippines is not included in its official listing as an established military base, nor is it categorically identified as a prospect military base if and when JSOTFP leaves.

JSOTFP: AFP'S 'PARTNER' TASK FORCE

"It is already enough that we have a small group of US special forces here, and there is certainly no need to put up a US base," Rep. Ma. Isabelle Climaco of the 1st Congressional District of Zamboanga City said.

"The re-establishment of a US Base in the Philippines is unlikely since the Philippine Government has already decided on this in the past. The United States and Philippine Governments however should issue a joint statement with regards to the long-term plan of the US Forces in the country," the lady solon added.

With this pronouncement, a visiting team of US solons led by US Rep. Silvestre Reyes of the 16th District of Texas, declared that the US Government is not likewise intending to reopen any of the military bases it once had in the Philippines.

"It is not our intent to establish any base here (in Mindanao). Our attempt is to continue to work together and to thank the Philippine government and its people for their commitment to work with us on this global war on terrorism," said Reyes.

Reyes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of US Congress and member of the House Armed Services Committee, clarified the role of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTFP), which is a visiting task force in the country.

"The JSOTFP is a task force established by SOCPAC (the US Special Operations Command-Pacific). By US doctrine a task force is a temporary organization established for a specific mission. It is not a permanently established unit," stressed Col. David Maxwell, JSOTFP Commander.

The establishment of US military bases all over the globe has been viewed as a world domination strategy for geopolitical and economic control as well as for energy and natural resource management and control. Hence, to an extent, anti-American groups in the Philippines are resisting US influence and involvement into domestic affairs whether transparently or worse, underhandedly. The international and Philippine press have thus been addressed to be watchdogs against outright and manipulative US intervention, and the most recent among this is an international media report that America is subtly building a base down south.

But the role of the JSOTF-P had always been that of a task force that "continued advisory efforts with selected AFP units at the strategic, operations and tactical levels," penned former JSOTFP Commander Col. Gregory Wilson in a 2006 article in Military Review.

Year after year, there are only less than a hundred of US soldiers who come and go, largely a composite group of civil affairs planners and personnel, health staff, engineering and maintenance teams, a public affairs office, a small group of strategic planners, and a few to provide themselves security.

"JSOTF-P has fluctuated between 50 and 300 personnel. Advisory teams interface at the strategic level with the U.S. Embassy in Manila and the AFP General Headquarters in Manila; at the operational level, with AFP Southern Command in Zamboanga; and at the tactical level, with selected AFP combat units. Advisory teams also work with AFP civil affairs and psychological operations forces." ( Wilson, 2006)

The putting up of military bases was governed by the 1947 Military Bases Agreement, the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, and the 1953 Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement or the Manila Pact, and the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The 36,000-acre Subic Naval Base in Zambales and the 11,000-acre area occupied as a US facility in the 130,000-acre reservation at Clark Air Base had long been vacated by the US military following the Filipino people's mandate for its non-continuance in operations. Since the late eighties, US forces have started to leave the bases which had been there for two and a half decades, as stipulated by law.

However, in 2002, following the increasing global threat on terror, and the kidnapping of American citizens who were transported as hostages from Palawan to Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi to Basilan to Zamboanga del Norte, the US military started coming in small groups as part of Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines (OEF-P). It was at this time that Joint Task Force 510 was established as a combined US-RP operations in the island-province of Basilan, and that was the start of the annual military exercises dubbed as Balikatan.

JTF 510 was then headed by then Brigadier (now Lieutenant General Select) Gen. Donald Wurster as JTF 510 Commander and then Col. (now Lt. General) David P. Fridovich as 1st Special Forces Group and Army Special Operations Task Force Commander. Both were in command simultaneously here.

After some months, JTF 510 was reorganized to what is now known as Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P). Among its previous commanders are Col. Joe Smith (now retired), who headed both the 1st Special Forces Group and JSOTF-P, Col. Al Walker (now retired) as commander of the 19th Special Forces Group and JSOTF-P, Lt. Col. Dennis Downey (on multiple tours), Lt. Col. Tony Abati, then Lt. Col. (now Col.) Tom Johnson, Lt. Col. (now Col.) Greg Wilson, Col. Charlie King, and Col. James Linder. It was during the command of Linder when the annual joint exercises were held in Sulu, and were purely humanitarian in nature.

In October of 2006, Col. David Maxwell assumed the command.

From time and again, however, the US military in the Philippines have acted as a support force to the Philippine Armed Forces in its military and humanitarian offensive to the conflict-assessed areas in Mindanao, particularly in the Zamboanga Peninsula and certain areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

During local combat operations, the US military's intelligence and logistical support have been sought and the AFP leadership has always stressed this to the international and Filipino community. While there had been notions on the US military's alleged participation in local warfare between the AFP and Muslim radicals and other lawless elements among the Abu Sayyaf Group and other purported breakaway groups, the militaries of both governments have strongly denied such. At one point, AFP spokesman Col. Bartolome Bacarro had chided media who insisted on such, and countered that for the AFP to depend on the US Armed Forces is an insult and blow to the Philippine military, who is the host of the visiting forces.

On three separate incidents in the past, the visiting US forces were also accused of joining combat operations and as a result thereof lives of American soldiers were lost. These reported casualties were categorically denied as well by former Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col. Mark Zimmer, and then Capt. (now Maj.) Eddie Paruchabutr of the Military Information Support Team.

While there had been organizations (including US groups such as the Asia America Initiative) that have been critical of US military presence in southern Philippines, the locales still positively accept the presence of these visiting soldiers. As they move around Zamboanga, Marawi, GenSan, Cotabato, Sulu or Tawi-Tawi, they are met by all but friendly faces especially from children who get warm responses from the soldiers and flash back smiles when greeted, "Hey, Joe!" To them, 'Joe" brings hope, and a message that someone from a powerful country took time out to cross the Pacific to spend a moment or two to show that America cares for them.

BALIKATAN AND BAYANIHAN: COUNTER-TERROR STRATEGIES

The short-term annual Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) Exercises and the year-round Bayanihan (cooperative team effort) service projects are essentially part of the military strategies of both US and RP in the fight against global terror.

In conflict-stricken Sulu and Basilan provinces, as well as in areas like Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Del Sur, Zamboanga Del Norte, General Santos, Cotabato, Marawi City, and Lanao provinces, where spillovers occur or were likely to occur, the joint activities (whether engineering or direct humanitarian), were welcomed by Filipino citizens who had long wanting to see further development within their areas.

"Balikatan should be brought back to Basilan since it yielded a successful result in 2002," suggested Rep. Climaco of Zamboanga City. "The Philippine troops trained before are no longer in Basilan. The gains contributed by the Philippine troops and their US counterparts led by Col. (David) Maxwell should be reintroduced," she stressed.

In a separate interview, Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali yesterday expressed his appreciation over the concerted efforts of the US military in partnership with the Philippine Marines and the Philippine Navy in his area of governance. He stressed though that '"there is a very minimal number of US soldiers within the province and they are confined to their quarters. So far what they have been doing are all for the good of the people of Tawi-Tawi, and as far as we know, it has nothing much to do with combat operations activities." The Governor also added that the activities included "development projects such as repair of schools thus addressing needs in education, medical services extended to different communities in partnership with local health groups and the Philippine military."

CONTINUED SUPPORT TO RP

The recent visit of the US legislators was met with issues that primarily questioned the establishment of a US military base in southern Philippines with a pointing finger at JSOTFP as the initial step. In response, US Rep. Silvestre Reyes, who led the group, described their visit as "A welcome opportunity for my colleagues and myself to travel to the Philippines to see, first hand, the close cooperation between our two countries on several fronts."

"We hope to learn more about the many strong aspects of the US-Philippines relationship, and to talk about ways that we can make our relations even stronger. Recent events remind us that our two nations are not just historical allies, but allies in today's fight against terrorists," the lawmaker from Texas said.

"We recognize and we know how sad to lose the love ones while we continue to experience those deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world," Reyes said. "So we wanted to share our sympathies to the Philippine people. Again, we're here to show our commitment and to make sure that we better understand the present challenges that we face both," the visiting Spanish-speaking US solon added.
"We know that there is an important part of the global effort that we're to make in terms of protecting our allies and protecting the key and vital regions of the world," he said.
Reyes along with Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, Heather Wilson of New Mexico, Gregory Meeks of New York, and Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, arrived in Manila on Friday last week, where they laid a wreath at the grave of Filipino soldiers who had courageously died in recent battles, and met dignitaries of the Philippine Government at an official function Friday evening at the PhilAm Life Building in Makati. They flew to Zamboanga early next day where they conferred with Mayor Celso Lobregat, local officials, officers of the Philippine military, and the press.
"We're committed to continuing to assist and expand the assistance as much as we possibly can within the confines and invitation of your government. We will continue to pour support, including financial, to boost whatever efforts both countries have done to fight terrorism," he concluded.
But the best thing that the US legislators did—on the issue of US military presence in southern Philippines—was clear the vacuum. (Frencie L. Carreon)