US Plays Both Sides In The Philippines

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National Guard On Their Way To Southern Philippines

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 30, 2008) – More US troops are expected to arrive soon in the Philippines to support hundreds already deployed in the southern part of the country aiding Filipino troops in battling terrorism.

At least 30 soldiers, part of the Guam Army National Guard's 1st Battalion under the 294th Infantry Regiment, are heading to support the "Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines," the Guam-based Mariana's Variety newspaper reported Wednesday.

It said the soldiers will serve as security, at least for six months, for a unit of the Special Operations Command-Pacific that is conducting joint civilian-military operations and training with the Philippine military.

US soldiers deployed in the south are under the Joint Special Task-Philippines which is based in Zamboanga City, but its "area of operations", according to a US military publication, spans 8,000 square miles, covering the entire island of Mindanao and its surrounding islands and seas. With various military facilities now being constructed for their use, members of the unit refer to their bases in Mindanao as "forward operating base-11" and "advanced operating base-921".

Though US and Philippine government officials have consistently claimed that the unit is not involved in actual combat, US troops themselves describe their mission as "unconventional warfare" and "counter-insurgency" operations in the country. US troops join Filipino soldiers on patrol, provide them with intelligence, and assist in various aspects of their operation.

American soldiers are also active in many development and humanitarian activities in the southern Philippines, especially in Sulu province where they built roads and schools and join medical missions with local troops and provincial government mostly in poor areas.

The humanitarian missions is part of the Balikatan, which means "shoulder-to-shoulder," an annual Philippine and US bilateral military humanitarian assistance and training activity.

Sulu Governor Sakur Tan said the humanitarian missions helped many poor families in the province.

Just earlier this year, about 600 US troops worked with civilian authorities and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in various humanitarian projects that included free medical, dental and veterinary care in Sulu province and also in central and Western part of Mindanao.

US and Philippine soldiers, many of them construction engineers, built schools and other community infrastructures in those areas.

In 2006, the United States Navy hospital ship Mercy had treated more than 60,000 mostly poor Filipino patients in separate medical missions in Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi islands, including Zamboanga City, as part of the Project Bayanihan. (Mindanao Examiner)

What US Bases? They Are Temporary Military Facilities!

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 22, 2008) – The Philippine military has denied Friday reports by a Filipino fact-finding group that US troops have put up secret bases in Mindanao.

The Citizens Peace Watch (CPW), an umbrella organization of political and human rights groups, said it has confirmed the presence of a fortified US military base inside the headquarters of the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City.

It said the base is the headquarters of the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, a unit of the US Special Forces that has been deploying troops to various parts of Mindanao since 2002.

Lawyer Corazon Fabros, of the CPW, said her group was sent away by Filipino soldiers after they failed to get a permission to inspect the US facility. She said the base has communication facilities and is heavily guarded that even Filipino soldiers are not allowed without a pass.

"The 'visitors' have not only stayed on, they have set up camp in our house and told us – their hosts – to go away," said Fabros in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

She said the US military base stands out and is sealed from the rest of Western Mindanao Command by walls, concertina wire, and sandbags. The actual size of the area it occupies could not immediately be established from the outside. But communication facilities such as satellite dishes, antenna, and other instruments are visible.

US Marines provided protection for the facility; some workers were seen wore IDs identifying them with DynCorp, a controversial US military contractor.

The group said other facilities inside the base were unknown. "What exactly are they hiding here? Why all this secrecy?" asked Amabella Carumba, of the Mindanao People's Peace Movement, a member of the fact-finding mission.

The US military maintains similar facilities in Mindanao where it is assisting and advising Filipino troops in fighting terrorism. US troops were also spotted inside the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division and in Philippine Marine bases in Sulu province and in Mactan island in Central Philippines.

There are American forces in Tawi-Tawi and Lanao provinces.

A Bangkok-based international research organization called Focus on the Global South, said US troops deployed in Mindanao have established a new kind of US base.

Major Eugene Batara, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, strongly denied the reports and said there are no secret US bases in the region.“There are no US bases in Mindanao. In Zamboanga City, the US maintains a temporary facility inside the Western Mindanao Command. It is not a US base nor it is secret because everybody knows about it,” he said in a separate interview.

Batara said Filipino soldiers also use the facility of the JSOTF-P. “We also use their facility, such as their communications as part of the joint Balikatan program,” he said.

But Focus on the Global South said contrary to previous efforts by the US and Philippine governments to portray the troops as participating only in temporary training exercises Balikatan, it has since been revealed that this unit has stayed on and maintained its presence in the country for the last six years.

Contradicting claims that they are not involved in the fighting, Focus has gathered pronouncements by US troops themselves who have gone on record to say that their mission in the south is "unconventional warfare" – a US military term that encompasses combat operations.

With the Philippine government not giving a definite exit date, and with US officials stating that this unit – composed of between 100 to 500 troops depending on the season – will stay on as long as they are allowed by the government, it is presumed that it will continue to be based in the Philippines for an indefinite period.

According to Focus' research, the JSOTF-P's stationing in the south is a prototype of the new kind of overseas basing that the US has introduced as part of its ongoing effort to realign its global basing structure.

Since 2001, the US – which has more than 700 bases and installations in over 100 countries around the world – has embarked on the most radical realignment of its overseas basing network since World War II.

Part of the changes is the move away from large permanent bases – such as the ones in Subic and Clark – in favor of smaller, more austere, more low profile bases such as the JSOTF-P's presence in Zamboanga and in other places in Mindanao.

In terms of profile and mission, Focus pointed out that the JSOTF-P is very similar to the Combined Joint Task Force–Horn, which was established in Djibouti in western Africa in 2003 and which has been described as a sample of the US austere basing template and the "model for future US military operations."

Focus said the Philippines is one of the "nodes for special operations forces" that former Defense Secretary Donald Rusted himself revealed the Pentagon would establish as part of its changes in Asia.

Focus notes that US troops themselves refer to their base in Sulu as "Advance Operating Base-920."

It also said the US Naval Facilities Engineering Command NAVFAC) had in June 6, 2007, awarded a six-month $14.4-million contract to a certain "Global Contingency Services LLC" of Irving, Texas for "operations support" for the JSOTF-P.

According to its own website, the NAVFAC is the unit within the US military that is in charge of providing the US Navy with "operating, support, and training bases."

It "manages the planning, design, and construction and provides public works support for US Naval shore installations around the world." Among their business lines are "bases development" and "contingency engineering."

The Pentagon said the contract awarded to Global Contingency Services LLC includes "all labor, supervision, management, tools, materials, equipment, facilities, transportation, incidental engineering, and other items necessary to provide facilities support services."

Global Contingency Services LLC is a partnership between DynCorp International, Parsons Global Services, and PWC Logistics. The $14.4 million contract is actually part of a bigger $450-million five-year contract for Global Contingency Services to "provide a full range of world-wide contingency and disaster-response services, including humanitarian assistance and interim or transitional base-operating support services."

According to DynCorp's website, this will include "facility operations and maintenance; air operations; port operations; health care; supply and warehousing; galley; housing support; emergency services; security, fire, and rescue; vehicle equipment; and incidental construction."

Contingency Response Services LLC describes its work as encompassing "operating forces support," "community support," and "base support." According to the Defense Industry Daily publication, the contract also includes "morale, welfare, and recreation support."

The specific contract for work for the JSOTF-P was expected to be completed last month, but other contracts may follow as part of the $450 million-package.

According to Focus' research, the JSOTF-P has not only been involved in the Philippine military's operations in the south, it also represents the new kind of more austere, more low-profile kind of overseas presence that the US has been striving to introduce as part of its comprehensive restructuring of its forward-deployment.

Last year, US Embassy deputy spokesperson and deputy press attaché Karen Schinnerer admitted the American government commissioned the construction of facilities across Mindanao for US soldiers, but insisted the projects are not permanent military bases.

She said the US construction projects are for “medical, logistical and administrative services” to be used by the American soldiers. She said the structures are not permanent US bases. US troops use the facilities only on a temporary basis for them to “eat, sleep and work,” she told The Manila Times. (Mindanao Examiner)

So Much Ado About US Bases Statement - Zambo Mayor

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Local Mayor Celso Lobregat expressed surprise over negative reactions articulated by various sectors concerning his supposed statement on the US Bases, which he said is a non-issue, government media said.

"This is so much ado about nothing", Mayor Lobregat declared referring to statements issued by various sectors hitting him for allegedly offering Zamboanga as the site for US bases.

The issue, he said, stemmed from his message during the turnover of computer units at the Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology (ZSCMST) in Rio Hondo this city where American Ambassador Kristie Kenney and US Senators Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Ted Stevens of Alaska were the guest of honors.

"I was relating a footnote in history", he said. "I was misquoted and I was taken out of context".

Mayor Lobregat explained that in his speech, he merely related about the long standing relationship between the city government of Zamboanga and the US.

I said when the Philippine Senate voted not to ratify the Bases Extension Agreement, the people of Zamboanga at that time (17 years ago) were saying that if people in Luzon don't want the bases in Luzon, the US could have the bases here (in the city) but the Constitution does not allow it".

Also, at the height of the controversy of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) in 1996, the Zamboanga City Council asked the Regional Development Council in Western Mindanao to "study, assess, evaluate and recommend the possibility of making Zamboanga or any part of Western Mindanao as site for the US bases".

"This is so much ado about nothing because I did not offer Zamboanga City as a site for any bases, first of all the constitution does not allow it and this is a non-issue," the mayor reiterated.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, a daily newspaper of national circulation and its website www.inquirer.net including the tabloid Bandera on Tuesday published a news item stating that the mayor has offered Zamboanga as the site for US bases triggering negative reactions from numerous sectors.

In a meeting with members of the City Council at the City hall Conference room Wednesday afternoon, the mayor replayed the video of his message delivered during the affair at the ZSCMST to prove his point. Nowhere in the video did the mayor say that he is offering Zamboanga as the site of the US bases. (Philippine Information Agency)

Where Are The US’ Secret Bases In Philippines?

US gov’t lists RP as hosting “cooperative security locations” -- a category of US bases -- but gov’t has neither announced their existence nor disclosed their locations.

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 21, 2007) - Revealing that the Philippines hosts US “cooperative security locations” (CSLs) -- a new category of US military bases, a new report launched by an international research institute raised the question: Where are these bases in the Philippines?

In a little-reported event, the US’ Overseas Basing Commission, a body created by the US Congress to review the ongoing realignment of US military presence around the world, has listed the Philippines as among the countries where the US has been developing CSLs.

The Philippine government, the report noted, has neither announced its decision to allow the opening of these CSLs nor has it revealed where these bases are located.

Entitled ‘At the Door of All the East’: The Philippines in US Military Strategy, the report is published by Focus on the Global South, an international policy research organization based at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, with country offices in Manila and Mumbai.

According to the Pentagon, CSLs are categorized as US military installations that are nominally owned by host governments, but are to be provided for the US’ use when needed.

They would most likely be ran and maintained by host-nation personnel or even private contractors. They are useful for pre-positioning logistics support or as venues for joint operations with host militaries.

CSLs are also called “lily pads” intended to allow the US to hop on from their larger bases to their destinations rapidly when necessary. With their low profile, they are envisioned not to attract the level of attention that has fueled domestic opposition to US military presence in many places around the world.

Though the Philippine government has neither acknowledged nor identified the locations of these bases in the Philippines, the report quotes a prominent American journalist and author who has visited such facilities as suggesting that one such CSL is in Mactan island in Cebu province, once a base for P3 Orion reconnaissance planes operating in Mindanao.

Other possible leads offered for those with the capacity to probe further include the Subic Bay port, the Clark Airfield, and the General Santos City airport.

Comparing the amounts of US military assistance countries in East Asia get with their own military expenditures, the Philippines stands out for having the largest percentage of US military assistance relative to its military budget, according to a report by the Focus on Global South.

This is an indication that the Philippines is the most dependent among all recipients of US military aid in East Asia, its report said.

The report shows that, since 9/11, the Philippines has been by far the largest recipient of US military assistance in all of East Asia. In fact, between 2002-2005, the country obtained approximately 85% of the total allocated to Southeast Asia.

Its $54 million annual average is over ten times more than the next biggest recipient, Thailand, another close US ally, which got an average of $4 million annually during that period, it said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

At the same time, the Philippines has one of the lowest military budgets in the region. In absolute terms, the Philippines tops only Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in average annual military spending from 1988 to 2005.

At $814 million a year (in constant 2005 prices and exchange rates), the Philippines’ is just a little over one-fifth of top spender Singapore and one-third of Indonesia and Thailand. As a percentage of annual economic output, the Philippines’ average annual military spending is the lowest in the region.

Taking into account the share of US military aid as a proportion of the total military budget, the Philippines is relatively the most dependent on US military assistance among countries in the region, if such can be gauged by comparing how much a country gets from the US and how much it is spending.

By this measure, from 1988 to 2005, US military assistance was equivalent to over 8% of the Philippines’ average annual military expenditure. This is far larger than any other country in the region, much more than that of another close US ally, Thailand, for which US military is only 0.4% of its annual military expenditure.(Herbert Docena)

Anti-War Advocates Urge RP Lawmakers To Look Into US Bases In Mindanao

A US soldier examines the foot of a Muslim villager during a medical mission in Marawi City in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 28 Aug) – An independent anti-war coalition on Tuesday urged Filipino lawmakers to investigate the presence of U.S. forces in southern Philippines.

The Stop the War Coalition, which is composed of people’s organizations, NGOs, social movements, women’s, students’, religious, youth and other organizations, said the presence of US troops and small American military bases in the country must be investigated because it violates the Constitution.

“We at the Stop the War Coalition call for an immediate independent investigation as to the constitutionality of allowing the establishment of US bases in Mindanao,” it said in a statement sent Tuesday to the Mindanao Examiner.

“We urge our elected legislators to call for an independent investigation into the issue and demand that they be given access to inspect the bases, and to summon US and Filipino officials to explain. We call for the Abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement. We demand an immediate end to the war in Mindanao and an end to US intervention in the war,” it said.

The Bangkok-based Focus on Global South, an international research institute that monitors US military activities in the Philippines, said an American-based construction unit has been spending $14.4 in Mindanao.

It said the US Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) had in June 6, 2007, awarded a six-month $14.4-million contract to a certain “Global Contingency Services LLC” of Irving, Texas for “operations support” for the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P).

According to its own website, the NAVFAC is the unit within the US military that is in charge of providing the US Navy with “operating, support, and training bases.” It “manages the planning, design, and construction and provides public works support for US Naval shore installations around the world.” Among their business lines are “bases development” and “contingency engineering.”

The JSOTF-P is the unit established by the US Special Operations Command that has been stationed in the southern Philippines since 2002 and which Focus on the Global South believes has established a new kind of US basing in the country.

Global Contingency Services LLC is a partnership between DynCorp International, Parsons Global Services, and PWC Logistics. The $14.4 million contract is actually part of a bigger $450-million five-year contract for Global Contingency Services to “provide a full range of world-wide contingency and disaster-response services, including humanitarian assistance and interim or transitional base-operating support services.”

A US Embassy official admitted that the American government has commissioned the construction of facilities across Mindanao for US soldiers, but insists the projects are not permanent military bases.

Karen Schinnerer, US Embassy deputy spokesperson and deputy press attaché, said the American construction projects are for “medical, logistical and administrative services” to be used by the American soldiers. She said the structures are “definitely not permanent US bases.”

US soldiers will use the facilities only on a temporary basis for them to “eat, sleep, and work,” she said.

Earlier on Friday, an official from the Philippine commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement said that the US was not building bases but living quarters for troops training local soldiers.

US troops are currently deployed in Zamboanga City, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi islands in the Sulu Archipelago and Maguindanao province in southern Philippines, where local soldiers are battling terrorism.

They have their own base inside Philippine military facilities where US troops maintain communication and intelligence facilities which are only accessible to the Americans, although sometimes senior Filipino military generals tour the facilities on special permission from US military.

A Philippine Air Force base in Mactan island in Cebu province also is being used as base to a fleet of US Orion reconnaissance planes, while US ships in international waters are where unmanned spy aircrafts are flown to conduct reconnaissance missions over the southern region.

Last year, villagers in Jolo island recovered an unmanned aerial vehicle called “Predator” which crashed in the hinterland. The crash of the spy plane was never reported by the US military and kept secret until the craft was found. A similar aircraft also crashed at sea off Zamboanga.

And as Schinnerer said, there are facilities—however, they are temporary quarters and not a military base. She added that the US government does not even have plans of leading any kind of military operations against rebels in Mindanao.

Schinnerer said the US troops are in Mindanao upon the invitation of the Philippines.

“We will work with the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] as it is by invitation of Philippine government to work beside them we work on the medical services,” she said, adding that the project has been contracted privately.

Stop the War Coalition also urged other independent groups to protest the presence of US facilities in the region.

“Because of the ongoing war in Mindanao, Stop the War Coalition believes that US basing in the country and its involvement in the war will complicate the situation and move us away from peaceful and just solutions to the problems.”

“Stop the War Coalition believes that neither the US nor the Philippine government has the incentive to tell the truth about the US bases in Mindanao.
We therefore call on all Filipinos to oppose these bases, call for their abolition, and demand the withdrawal of US troops from the country,” it said.

But many Filipinos in areas where the US troops are operating said they are supporting the presence of the Americans, who are involved in humanitarian missions and development projects.

US troops have built roads and schools and bridges in southern Philippines and at the same time helping the local military defeat terrorism. (Mindanao Examiner, with reports from the Manila Times)