SEVERAL groups on Thursday assailed the alleged plan to construct a de-facto naval base on Oyster Bay in Palawan for the visiting American troops in the Philippines.
Environmental groups belonging to the Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) fear that the planned development of the island cove into a “mini-Subic” will result in the destruction of marine habitat and massive pollution.
For its part, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said putting up the military base for the use of US troops in the province is “grossly unconstitutional” and would endanger the lives and livelihood of the people and their environment.
In a statement, Kalikasan-PNE said that the US government have yet to clean up and rehabilitate its former military bases in the country and have not paid compensation for the damage that a US Navy minesweeper caused on Tubbataha Reef.
On January 17 this year, the US Navy minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground the Tubbataha Reef, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site, destroying 2,345.67 square meters of 10-meter-high coral reefs.
The US government has yet to pay the P60-million fine, considered by many as a slap-in-the-wrist considering the damage it wrought, for violating provisions of the Tubbataha Act, the group said.
Coral reef value estimates from scientific journals put the valuation of the damages to be at least $342 million. “The impending construction of a base on Oyster Bay, which is within a marine protected area, seems to be the next crime they are intent on pushing through with,” the group said.
Pamalakaya Vice Chairman Salvador France said for his part that the plan to convert the mangrove-rich cove in Palawan constitutes a crime against national sovereignty and wholesale destruction of natural resources and marine environment.
Commo. Joseph Rostum Peña, Western Naval Forces commander, confirmed that the plan would be to construct a “mini-Subic Naval Base.” Construction of a port in the area would extend the range of the Navy’s two frigates, both former US Coast Guard cutters, that are tasked to patrol the disputed Spratly Islands.
The plan to convert Oyster Bay into a mini-Subic Naval Base was revived under the administration of President Aquino.
France said the construction of mini-naval base in Oyster Bay is grossly unconstitutional and would put extreme danger to the lives and livelihood of the people and their environment.
The purpose of the mini-naval base on Oyster Bay is not only to check China and the long-running tension in West Philippine Sea but also to maintain the military hegemony of Washington all over the region, France said.
OK, it's the usual commie suspects opposed to the Philippine military and any US military presence in the Philippines. No surprises here. KALIKASAN is ostensibly a Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) umbrella front group focused on environmental issues while PAMALAKAYA is a front that is active among small-scale fishermen.
ReplyDeleteIn my view both groups are relatively small and are part of the Maoist CPP's effort to project an image of widespread discontent with Philippine government policies through the establishment of numerous sectoral groups (students, youth, fisherfolk, women, etc.), cause-oriented organizations (human rights, environmental, anti-nuclear, etc.), and more recently part-list political parties (Bayan Muna, KATRIBU, ACT, etc.) that are often spin-offs from the sectoral fronts.