------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
DREGS OF U.S. MILIARY OCCUPATION: FILIPINOS STRUGGLE WITH TOXIC WASTES By Sarah Sloan Central Luzon, Philippines Central Luzon has a deep history of struggle. It is the birthplace of the Filipino Resistance Army, the true defeaters of the Japanese imperialist invaders during World World II--not the U.S. Army, as history books claim. Central Luzon is also the founding place of the New People's Army, a left-wing guerilla movement that has grown in recent years. In 1991, Central Luzon was the center of a nationwide struggle against the two largest U.S. military bases outside the U.S., located in this province of the Philippines. Under the heat of a mass people's movement that was sweeping the country--carrying out every form of resistance possible, from teach-ins to education to mass rallies--on Sept. 16, 1991, the Philippine Senate abrogated the 1947 Philippine- U.S. Military Bases Agreement. The U.S. military was forced to abandon its Clark Air and Subic Naval Bases. The Philippines has a long history of colonial and imperial domination by Spain, the U.S. and Japan. Taking advantage of its struggle for independence from Spain, the U.S. had invaded in the late 1890s. After a bloody Filipino-American War that lasted for years, the U.S. ruled the Philippines as a colonial dominator--except for a few years of Japanese occupation during World War II--until the granting of formal independence in 1946. U.S. domination continued, however, in a slightly different form. Through the 1947 Military Bases Agreement, the 1947 Military Assistance Pact and the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, U.S. imperialism maintained economic and military domination of the Philippines itself and used it as a strategic location in Asia. CONTINUING EFFECTS OF THE BASES The Clark and Subic bases had the same disastrous effect on the population of Central Luzon as other U.S. military bases the world over. Filipino base workers received scant salaries and benefits compared to their U.S. counterparts. The streets of Central Luzon were lined with bars catering to the U.S. military personnel. Filipino women and children became the victims of prostitution, sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. Some were forced to work in the homes of U.S. soldiers and were routinely raped. The Filipino's people's struggle against the bases has forced this to change, but there are continuing effects from military toxic and nuclear wastes left behind by the U.S. military. Filipino and indigenous workers at the bases were forced to handle toxic waste, including burying it and swimming through sewage to unclog pipes. The deaths of these workers have called attention to this toxic waste dumping. Children in the area have also begun to die of diseases caused by these toxic wastes. The People's Network for the Environment (KALIKASAN) has begun an international campaign to expose this situation. KALIKSAN is a part of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), an anti-imperialist people's umbrella organization formed in 1985. BAYAN has also helped to form United Peoples Against U.S. Military Toxics (UP Against Toxics) and the Junk VFA Movement, which opposes the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that has allowed U.S. military personnel to resume use of parts of Clark and Subic and gain access to more than 20 major ports. For a long time the use of toxic waste by the U.S. military was little known because their operations were secret. But since they have left the Philippines, organizations such as these have begun testing and have drawn attention to the high incidence of new diseases in Central Luzon. KALIKASAN has documented that, near the Subic Base, 800 out of 4,000 residents are afflicted with asbestosis. Many women in the area have experienced spontaneous abortion; there are increasing rates of childhood leukemia and an unusually high incidence of morbidity and mortality. In 1992, the U.S. government acknowledged contamination in the former bases, but continued to deny liability for environmental damage based on a clause in the Military Bases Agreement that states the U.S. does not have to return the bases "in the condition in which they were at the time of their occupation." Following the events of Sept. 11, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo agreed to allow the U.S. to use the country's land, water and air spaces, including the former U.S. military bases in Subic and Clark and refueling points or launching pads, for the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the Middle East. The people of Central Luzon are gearing up for another struggle. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. 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