Friday, March 8, 2013

Teach-In at UP Palma Hall: Things to know about the Tubbataha and the VFA

Posted to the pro-CPP Arkibong Bayan (People's Archive) Website (Mar 7): Teach-In at UP Palma Hall: Things to know about the Tubbataha and the VFA



Tubba Talk: UP Alliance to Save Tubbataha, Junk VFA

The historic AS lobby, scene of numerous teach ins prior to and during martial law, was the venue for the Tubbatalk Teach In today. UP professors with backgrounds in marine anthropology, Physics and European Languages as well as a professor of Marine Biology from Ateneo shared with UP students the various dimensions of the impact on the environment, on sovereignty and on the people of the incident in Tubbataha and the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.

The teach-in was capped by a performance of the UP-CIS Bunraku Ensemble featuring Philemon the puppet fisherman. Bunraku, according to Wikipedia: "Bunraku" , also known as Ningyo joruri, is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in 1684."





UP Community Says Save Tubbataha Junk VFA
January 30, 2013

Concerned members of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman community express outrage over the wanton damage of the Tubbataha Reef by the USS Guardian, a US mine sweeper that initially docked at Subic last January 12 and was supposed to make a stopover at Puerto Princesa City before going to Indonesia.

The Tubbataha Reef, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993, is part of the Coral Triangle which contains at least 40% of the world fish and 75% of the world’s coral. It also serves as one of the key sources of coral and fish larvae of the greater Sulu Sea which sustains the fishing activity in the surrounding area. (Source: http://tubbatahareef.org/wp/global_ecological_significance)

US Navy estimates place the damage at 1,000 square meters of the marine protected area. However, until the US mine sweeper is removed from the site, the extent of the damage cannot be determined. . According to environmental experts, it takes one year for a millimeter of coral to grow naturally and 250 years for a meter of coral to mature. The warship has damaged thousands of years’ worth of coral growth and the delicate balance of the ecosystem it supports.

That the US Navy will only be fined US$300 (or roughly PhP12,000) for every damaged square meter is unacceptable even if it may be legal. The Coral Reef is priceless and its damage is made worse by the blatant and arrogant disregard of the US forces of territorial integrity and Philippine sovereignty.

First, the warship ignored the warning of the Park Rangers that they were entering a protected area and should not proceed. Instead the US Captain referred them to the US Embassy.

Second, when the ship ran aground, the crew prevented the Park Rangers from boarding the ship by going into a battle formation.

This is not the first time that US military presence, allowed by the Visiting Forces Agreement, has brought harm to our people and our environment and encroached on our sovereignty. The US has not yet cleaned up the toxic wastes that they left in Subic and Clark since 1992. Just recently, a US Naval contractor dumped solid and human waste in the vicinity of Subic Bay. Drone and missile testing is being done inside our territory. The New York Times reported the admission by US officials that in 2006 an American Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, fired a “barrage of Hellfire missiles” in the “jungles of the Philippines”. Early this year, a US drone was discovered floating off the island of Masbate. President Aquino himself has admitted that he has allowed the overflights of US drones over Philippines.
 
US military forces, battle ships, and warplanes can move around Philippine territory and do damage to the people and environment with impunity because of the Visiting Forces Agreement.
 
It is in this light that concerned members of the UP Diliman community strongly call on the Aquino administration to make the US Navy accountable for the damage to the Tubbataha Reef and to assert the Philippines’ territorial integrity and national sovereignty .We renew our call to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement. This call is consistent with the patriotic tradition of the University of the Philippines .
 
Save the Tubbataha Reef!

US Troops Out Now!

Junk the Visiting Forces Agreement

 
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Arkibong Bayan tracks the latest developments involving CPP front organizations and other sympathetic groups. UP Diliman has been a hot bed of pro-CPP sentiment. The "teach-in" has been a traditional progaganda tool used by the CPP to indoctrinate audiences on key issues. The "US Troops Out Now!" and "Junk the Visiting Forces Agreement!" slogans/themes articulated during the teach-in are consistent with those put forth by well-established CPP front groups.

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