UNITY STATEMENT AGAINST BALIKATAN 02-1

KASAMA Vol. 16 No. 2 / April-May-June 2002 / Solidarity Philippines Australia Network

DAVAO CITY - 7 February 2002

We, Lumad, Moro, and Christian members of civil society groups in Mindanao urgently demand the termination of the RP-US Balikatan 02-1 war exercises based on the following reasons:

The Balikatan is being peddled as a joint military exercise or training for the Philippine military; yet top US and Philippine officials consider the Balikatan as a venue for combat training operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) which they consider "international terrorists";
We believe that the presence of US troops in the country is unconstitutional because of the constitutional provision that explicitly bars foreign troops from fighting on Philippine soil;
We believe that both the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) - which is used to explain the arrival of US troops in the country - are unconstitutional;
We fear that the MLSA will result in the permanent presence of US troops on Philippine soil because it allows American troops to have unhindered access to Philippine military structures and facilities anytime;
We believe that the AFP can easily crush the Abu Sayyaf Group, which is a small local bandit group. All it needs is for radical reforms in the AFP to weed out those AFP officers and men conniving with the Abu Sayyaf;
We believe that the US is in the Philippines actually because it wants a stronger military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The US feels threatened by China, which because of its recent membership in the World Trade Organization has become a major competitor in the Asian market. China also constitutes a threat to Taiwan, a US ally.

As a tri-people group, we have consulted Bangsamoro and Lumad groups, who fear that the Balikatan exercises pose a real threat to the ongoing peace efforts in Mindanao.

Our Bangsamoro partners fear that Balikatan can result in more US military involvement because they are staged in actual conflict areas under real combat conditions. The RP-US troops now joining the Balikatan are risking a full-blown war with Bangsamoro armed groups like the MNLF and the MILF in Basilan or the New Peoples Army in Luzon.

The Bangsamoro representatives also fear that the Balikatan will revive the anti-US sentiments of the Moro people which has historical roots during the Moro-American War in the early 1900s, where American troops massacred thousands of Moros, particularly during the Bud Dahu incident in Jolo.

Now therefore we strongly demand that the Philippines should assert its sovereignty as an independent nation and not rely on any foreign assistance in the training of its military forces.

As representatives of civil society groups in Mindanao, we support a concerted campaign against terrorist and kidnap groups in the country, but believe that these concerns can be resolved through local initiatives without any foreign interventions.

We also believe that the military solution alone will not solve the problem of the Abu Sayyaf Group. By eradicating poverty and neglect in the Bangsamoro areas where the ASG operates, we will be effectively preventing the birth of more future ASG clones.

SIGNED: Sanlakas-Davao City, Akbayan-Bisig, AFRIM, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Balay, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Initiatives for International Dialogue.

Downloaded from the IID web site at http://www.iidnet.org/adv/mda/unity-statement-on-balikatan.htm

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