SAMMY JULIAN
THE recent statement made by United States Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg during the turnover of command of the US Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines (JSOTFP) in Zamboanga City confirmed our suspicion: that the US military forces have been involved in Philippine military operations against insurgents.
Goldberg admitted that the US has taken part in the military operations against the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Zamboanga City last year, claiming to have provided “vital information and communication assets” to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Outgoing JSOTFP commander Col. Robert McDowell also admitted to having taken part in the siege and considered himself “a silent hero.”
It can be recalled that the Aquino government and its military officials have consistently denied US involvement in the month-long siege launched by the AFP against the MNLF.
However, news reports at the height of the all-out siege by the AFP clearly showed unmarked aircraft hovering and circling over the site for several hours. Even then, speculation was rife that the unidentified aircraft were drones being operated by the US forces from its base in Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City.
The all-out war of destruction practically leveled the city’s sprawling residential area. The aerial bombing, mortar shelling and machine-gun strafing of homes and buildings displaced 120,000 people who were later prevented from returning to their homes and forced to live in subhuman temporary shelters.
Since October, more than 100 people have died of illnesses in the evacuation centers.
We condemn the US military for intervening in the AFP’s siege of several coastal towns of Zamboanga City against the MNLF from September to October last year.
Clearly, the involvement of US military forces, whether through direct combat or providing logistical or intelligence support, constitutes military interventionism and is a violation of Philippine national sovereignty.
The government and the AFP must be held responsible for having allowed or invited US military interventionism.
Even now, there are claims that the US military has been carrying out all-out surveillance using drones, as well as tapping into the telecommunications and Internet infrastructure in the Philippines. It has even allegedly monitored the mobile phone communications of key politicians of the Aquino government.
Maybe the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, recently signed by the Philippines and the US, was all for show to legitimize whatever has been happening all along behind our back./PN
