REP. Luz Ilagan on Friday denounced what she described as the continuing drone attacks by the United States following the recovery of yet another drone in the coastal waters of Sta. Ana in Cagayan.
“We have asked this before and we shall ask it again: What is a US drone doing in Philippine territory?” Ilagan said.
“On what specific mission or military exercise was this drone operating and, more importantly, why does the Aquino government allow this wanton breach of national territory and sovereignty?”
The unmanned aircraft was said to be a BQM-74E owned by the US Navy and used in military exercises in Guam.
Ilagan said similar BQM-74E Aerial Target drones had been recovered in Patnanungan, Quezon, and in San Jacinto, Masbate, in January 2015 and January 2013, respectively.
In July 2013 PC3-Orion reconnaissance drones were reported flying over Philippine territory, Ilagan said.
She recalled that in February 2012 a US-led and supported air strike using attack drones destroyed an Abu Sayyaf hideout in Jolo as part of the Armed Forces of the Philippine’s counter-insurgency program.
“Given the heated situation in the West Philippine Sea, the Aquino government should be doubly circumspect in allowing reconnaissance operations and the presence of US drones in the country,” Ilagan said.
“The presence of drones, which has obviously escalated with the signingof the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, puts the country in a very vulnerable situation that could drag us into conflict should our neighbors become further agitated over territorial disputes.”
Ilagan urged the Philippine government to rescind The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and refuse the introduction of US drones and war materials in the country.
Ilagan was the principal author of several resolutions in the House of Representatives seeking a congressional probe into the deployment of US drones in the Philippines.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/01/24/third-drone-recovered-in-cagayan-/
“We have asked this before and we shall ask it again: What is a US drone doing in Philippine territory?” Ilagan said.
“On what specific mission or military exercise was this drone operating and, more importantly, why does the Aquino government allow this wanton breach of national territory and sovereignty?”
The unmanned aircraft was said to be a BQM-74E owned by the US Navy and used in military exercises in Guam.
Ilagan said similar BQM-74E Aerial Target drones had been recovered in Patnanungan, Quezon, and in San Jacinto, Masbate, in January 2015 and January 2013, respectively.
In July 2013 PC3-Orion reconnaissance drones were reported flying over Philippine territory, Ilagan said.
She recalled that in February 2012 a US-led and supported air strike using attack drones destroyed an Abu Sayyaf hideout in Jolo as part of the Armed Forces of the Philippine’s counter-insurgency program.
“Given the heated situation in the West Philippine Sea, the Aquino government should be doubly circumspect in allowing reconnaissance operations and the presence of US drones in the country,” Ilagan said.
“The presence of drones, which has obviously escalated with the signingof the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, puts the country in a very vulnerable situation that could drag us into conflict should our neighbors become further agitated over territorial disputes.”
Ilagan urged the Philippine government to rescind The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and refuse the introduction of US drones and war materials in the country.
Ilagan was the principal author of several resolutions in the House of Representatives seeking a congressional probe into the deployment of US drones in the Philippines.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/01/24/third-drone-recovered-in-cagayan-/
Rep. Luz Ilagan, the Gabriela Women's Party (GWP) representative in the 14th and 15th Congress, is a long-time pro-Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) activist. The GWP is a spin-off from the CPP sectoral front GABRIELA (General Assembly Binding Women for Reform, Integrity, Equality, Leadership, and Action). GABRIELA is a member of the main CPP multisectoral umbrella front organization, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-New Patriotic Alliance). The spin-off GWP is a CPP-affiliated political front and member of the CPP-associated political umbrella block/alliance, Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan (MAKABAYAN-Patriotic Coalition of Citizens).
ReplyDeleteRep. Ilagan knows she is putting out disinformation about the purpose of the target drone and is just doing her duty as a good little CPP propagandist when she attributes nefarious motives to the presence of a simple military target drone in Philippine waters.
The fact that she has deliberately distorted the truth can be easily proved. Do any of these orange colored target drones match any of the pictures of US military intelligence UAVs that are readily available on the Internet? Of course not. But Ilagan has no interest in knowing the truth she just wants to spew her anti-US propaganda.
If these target drones are "intelligence UAVs" then the US military would seem to be pretty inept in retrieving them after their so-call surveillance operations. Kind of hard to believe. Oh, by the way, where did all the intelligence surveillance equipment go? No cameras or other surveillance equipment has ever been found on any of the three drones recovered in Philippine waters.
The answer is the recovered craft are not surveillance UAVs but are simply target drones that have probably been carried by currents moving from the area around Guam which has a significant US military presence into Philippine waters. But simple, rational, and truthful explanations are of little interest to an America hater like Rep. Ilagan.