What did Philippines get out of Balikatan 02-2?

Prostitution, Pollution, Bombs & Dead Bodies
By Tony Daquipa

Even before the 2,700 US troops participating in Balikatan 02-2 began preparing to leave the Philippines after completing their 15-day war exercises, US and RP panels had been making plans for an even bigger event that would involve up to 5,000 US troops.
As thousands of protestors formed a two-kilometer human chain from Abacan Bridge to Clark Field in Pampanga to bid good riddance to the US forces as they began departing, Brig. Gen. Manuel Teodosio revealed the plans for an expansion of next year’s Balikatan war exercises at the official closing ceremony, and hailed this year’s Balikatan 02-2 a “success.”
“We are talking about increasing the involvement of the Americans into about a brigade-sized contingent, which should be at least two battalions,” Teodosio was quoted in the Philippine Star on May 7.
“Balikatan served as an excellent opportunity for our armed forces to train and familiarize themselves with the operation of modern equipment and weapons,” offered Teodosio. It’s too bad all that modern equipment and weapons are leaving with the Americans, especially since that was the best (the only?) benefit Filipino forces could have gotten out of Balikatan 02-2.
Now, it looks like the few Filipino pilots and soldiers who were briefly exposed to the high-tech American weaponry will have to go back to their outdated American hand-me-downs from the Vietnam war area. Then again, it’s an ideal scenario for those who wish to bring US forces back to the Philippines for another militarist trade show.
In the real world, however, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Secretary General, Teodoro Casino, countered, “Can the Arroyo government please tell us what we got out of Balikatan 02-2, aside from a lot of dead bodies and injuries, displaced Aeta families, more prostitutes and Filipino soldiers salivating from the hi-tech equipment of the Americans?”
As US troops conclude their withdrawal from Northern Luzon, the question is an important one: What did the Philippines really get out of Balikatan 02-2?

Prostitution

While it is well documented that the US military government instituted a regulated prostitution industry for its troops when it invaded and occupied the Philippines at the end of the 19th century, the sex industry really boomed during the Vietnam War, when hundreds of thousands of GIs spent their R&Rs boozing it up in Philippine brothels. The heavy troop deployment in Subic Bay, Clark and Mindanao also contributed to the development of entire towns dependent on prostitution dollars. At least three of those towns, Angeles, Olongapo and Zamboanga cities just enjoyed another boom period, thanks to the Balikatan war exercises.
Prior to the start of Balikatan 02-1 in the southern Philippines, Reuters reported on January 23 that “Owners and managers of karaoke lounges, nightclubs and cabarets in Zamboanga are hoping for a bonanza come February, when hundreds of US troops will be based in the city.” The Reuters report disclosed that many of the establishments were “planning fresh acts” or “thinking of renovations and new hirings” in anticipation of the influx of large amounts of US dollars.
In an ill-thought out response the next day, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “vowed to separate visiting US soldiers and the Philippines’ legendary bar girls,” as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on January 24.
Arroyo claimed that she had ordered US and Philippine commanders to ensure that GIs would be sent on “wholesome sightseeing tours and kept away from the sex workers during their breaks,” noted the Herald report.
Arroyo reasoned that as long as US troops went out in groups on “guided tours” they would forget that they were young men with raging hormones from a highly oversexed society.
However, despite the Presidential promise that American soldiers would be barred from the sex bars, newspaper reports that prostitutes were “flocking” to Zamboanga in anticipation of the arrival of US troops were in abundance.
In March, the Asia News Network IP reported that dozens of women, some as young as 13 years of age, had been recruited in Davao City to work as maids, waitresses and entertainers in bars in Zamboanga City. The girls were promised “free plane rides, pocket money and huge dollar incomes” to “service” American soldiers in military bases in Mindanao and South Korea.
On March 23, the Inquirer reported that one of the aims of an International Peace Mission sent to the southern Philippines was to confirm reports of what Cora Fabros of Gathering for Peace called “a modern comfort station” inside the American military camp in Zamboanga.
“No less than the Southern Command has established an entertainment area,” said Fabros. “Women are being brought in to provide entertainment for US and Filipino soldiers, specifically US troops,” she added.
Similarly, GABRIELA Deputy Secretary General Emmi de Jesus expressed outrage over reports that women were being brought into Balikatan 02-2 camps in Central Luzon under the guise of a “cultural exposure program,” where GIs were allowed to bring in women to their camps at Clark Field. She condemned what she called “take home sex delivery service” in the Balikatan camps, and blamed Malacanang for allowing the US military to do whatever it pleased.
An Inquirer story on April 21 revealed that American troops were being briefed about such matters as nightspots, the price of beers, “the price of ladies’ drinks” and bar schedules upon their arrival at Clark. “(Television) News reports showed newly arrived American soldiers being given ‘cultural sensitivity orientations’ that included tips on the local nightlife,” reported the Inquirer’s Volt Contreras.
De Jesus noted that bars, nightclubs and motels in Angeles and Olongapo had undergone “facelifts” in anticipation of the joint military exercises.
If not actually regulated by military authorities, prostitution was definitely officially sanctioned. In an Inquirer report on April 22, an official Balikatan spokesman, US Marine Lt. Neil Peterson, was quoted as saying, “US troops would be allowed to leave their bases during lulls in the exercises but would only be allowed to go to pre-approved nightspots, mostly located along Fields avenue near Clark’s main gate at Barangay Balibago in Angeles City.”
On April 26, an Inquirer report quoted Philippine Army Lt. Col. Ceserino Tannagan Jr., Chief of the Balikatan 02-2 Information Bureau, as saying, “US military officials were very strict in overseeing the conduct of their men participating in the exercises.”
Without denying that prostitution had been officially sanctioned, Tannagan elaborated on the “strict” rules governing off-duty US troops. He said that GIs were merely not allowed to go beyond Angeles City at night, and they had a curfew of 2 AM. He did not deny that GIs would be allowed to bring prostitutes onto the base with them prior to the 2 AM curfew.
Displaying tacit government approval of prostitution, Tannagan added that an AFP security unit guarded the GIs when they spent their free time outside of the base.
Proving that prostitution was rampant at other Balikatan sites around the country, the Inquirer reported on May 1 that US forces based on Mactan Island in Cebu were not allowed to visit the brothels of Cebu City.
“While their comrades assigned in Central Luzon have been enjoying the sites and sounds of Angeles City, Pampanga, the 250 American soldiers at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base have not even seen the lights of Cebu City,” reported the Inquirer’s Connie Fernandez.
“In the absence of an official ban by the Philippine government, the more than 1,500 American troops participating in the Balikatan 02-2 in Luzon are not prevented from going to the red light districts outside of Clark Field,” wrote Fernandez.
She continued, “In fact, several servicemen have been seen entering bars on Fields Avenue in Angeles City, which is outside Clark.”
Said GABRIELA’s de Jesus, “Mrs. Arroyo made an issue against our expressed fears of prostitution spurred by the Balikatan excercises. Now, the blatant facts are staring her in the face. We were right and she was wrong. She ought to be ashamed of herself.”
GABRIELA joined many other opposition groups on an anti-Balikatan “protest caravan” from Quezon City to Cabanatuan City which culminated in a large rally at Fort Magsaysay.

Noise Pollution

Another negative by-product of the US Air Force returning to the Philippines is noise pollution caused by American pilots hot dogging at low altitudes in their sophisticated jet aircraft.
After flying one of the elite F-18 Hornets the Americans brought with them, Philippine Air Force (PAF) Capt. Armando Ardenazo was ecstatic about his brief opportunity to hot dog in such a sophisticated war machine. Although the expressed primary mission of the PAF is to “defend” the Philippines, Ardenazo’s joy ride in the F-18 allowed him to ‘maneuver’ at low altitudes during “radar evasion” exercises. “It is seldom that we get to fly at low level,” Ardenazo was quoted in the Philippine Star on April 27.
As for why a pilot whose primary mission is to defend his country (a country which has no immediate external threats other than the United States and whose main internal threats are guerilla insurgencies) would need to learn radar-evasion, only Balikatan officials know. However, it is safe to say that the difference between low flying and flying at normal altitudes is similar to the difference between driving 50 mph on a two-lane city street and doing 50 mph on a six-lane freeway.
“This was an old, old practice of American troops when they used to dominate (the air space) over the tranquil Zambales,” said former Zambales governor Amor Deloso in an April 24 Inquirer report.
Residents of Barangay Palanginan complained in the same report that the loud noise of low-flying jet fighters “frightened the children while farm animals were disturbed and were seen fleeing in different directions.”
Angeles City mayor Carmelo Lazatin says that he had formally requested the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFAcom) to urge Balikatan officials to avoid flights over populated areas to reduce the effects of noise pollution on his constituents, but was obviously not listened to at all.
Prior to the eviction of the US Air Force in 1992, residents of Mabalacat had frequently complained about the noise pollution caused by low-flying jets, saying that it was affecting the local poultry industry.
According to an April 27 Philippine Star report, Air Force Col. Danilo Ferrer, chief of the events planning office for Balikatan 02-2, advised residents of Mabalacat and Angeles City to “just get used to the noise.”

Droppin’ Bombs

Deloso said that when he was still mayor of the town of Botolan in the early 80s, there were “at least” three incidents where a bomb was accidentally dropped in his town.
Fishermen in San Antonio town warned that their lives might be in danger if the fighter planes resumed bombing exercises on nearby Capones Island, an old favorite target range of the Americans.
One solution US and RP officials came up with for the issue of accidental bomb droppings was a mass displacement of thousands of Aeta villagers from Crow Valley in Capas. Crow Valley became the gunnery range for bombardment exercises during Balikatan 02-2. ABS-CBN reported that the Aeta families were taken to a “safe place,” but wouldn’t say where that was, or how those families would survive after being displaced from their native lands.
Hopefully, they weren’t relocated to one of the many toxic waste sites left on the former Air Force Base like their fellow tribespeople were after Mt. Pinatubo erupted.
It is not exactly certain what kind of environmental impact the exercises had on Crow Valley, but if the participants used Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions, which they very likely did, the site could be permanently contaminated.
After UN forces used DU shells during their campaign in Kosovo, the number of leukemia cases in Kosovo increased by 200% within two years of the air war.
In post-Gulf War Iraq, where DU munitions were also used, increases in childhood cancers and leukemia, Hodgkins disease, lymphomas, congenital diseases, fetal deformities, limb reduction abnormalities and genetic abnormalities have all been found. Increases in childhood leukemia alone have risen 600% in target-areas since the Gulf War.
“It is established that US troops leave military toxics and damage the ecology in those blastings, bombings and live-fire drills,” pointed out BAYAN’s Casino. “A check on each venue is in order,” he added.
It remains to be seen whether or not the Arroyo administration will even care about assessing the environmental damage. The past three administrations have done nothing about the toxics left on the former US bases.

Dead Bodies

There haven’t yet been reports about civilians killed by errant bombs, but one civilian was killed, and eighteen others were wounded.
On May 2, Reuters reported that a PAF F-5 “Freedom Fighter” exploded in mid-air over Malabacat, Pampanga, showering the town with “a rain of flaming debris.” The main section of the jet crashed into a school house, and metal fragments damaged several nearby houses. The crash killed the Filipino pilot, and injured 19 civilians on the ground. One of the civilians, school teacher Jesus Rivera, died later.
In a report by ABS-CBN on May 8, Vice-President and Foreign Affairs secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr. was reported as saying, “The tragedy that befell the pilot and the one casualty in Malabacat is very unfortunate, but that is part of life.”
“Accidents can happen anywhere,” added Guingona.
Sure enough, it wasn’t the only Balikatan-related accident.
Just one week prior, a PAF MG-520 helicopter gunship crash-landed while returning from gunnery exercises. The two pilots were injured, but both survived after being rescued by their US counterparts.
The Americans lost a chopper themselves, when an Special Forces MH-47E Chinook exploded over the Bohol Sea, killing all 10 on board. The Chopper was returning after a nighttime insertion of troops into Basilan.
Four other Filipino troops were injured during the Balikatan 02-2 exercises.

Sovereignty

It wasn’t just soldiers and civilians getting harmed by the US presence. The sovereignty of the Republic itself came under fire as US forces moved and acted freely throughout the archipelago, irregardless of the terms of the Visiting Forces Agreement, whose rules were supposed to regulate the participants’ actions during the Balikatan excercises.
During an earlier “joint-training” exercise in Luzon dubbed, “Balance Piston,” a Department of Foreign Affairs official was quoted in a February 3 Inquirer story complaining about violations of the treaty by US forces. The unnamed official complained that US forces had “abused our hospitality with their unrestricted movements.” The article did not elaborate on what type of movements those might be, but it did report about many other “grumblings” from Filipino forces who felt that they were literally relegated to the back seat during what were supposed to be “joint-training” exercises.
The report revealed that PAF pilots were “mere observers” on training flights in sophisticated American planes. During Balikatan 02-2 (Balikatan means “shoulder-to-shoulder”) however, at least one PAF pilot was allowed to fly a US F-18 fighter.
But going back to the issue of “unrestricted movements,” ABS-CBN news reported in two separate articles on May 8 (2 days after the official end of Balikatan 02-2) that “US military aircraft and helicopters landed and refueled at the country’s northernmost province of Batanes.”
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Guingona said that his department had not given any clearance to the US military to land or refuel in Batanes, but he had received reports that US Air Force planes and helicopters were coming “late at night” throughout Balikatan 02-2.
DFA officials maintain that they only gave diplomatic clearance for US planes to land and refuel at Clark Field in Pampanga, Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga and Mactan Air Base in Cebu.
VFAcom Executive Director Jaime Yambao confirmed this, saying, “So far, no clearance was granted for any US plane to land and refuel in Batanes.”
Batanes Gov. Vicente Gato also complained that US forces had been using the tiny airstrip in his province as a refueling station throughout the Balikatan excercises, and Batanes Rep. Florencio “Butch” Abad added, “They usually come at night with helicopters providing backup for security and light.” Apparently, the Americans only notify the local Air Transportation Office in Batanes when they are ready to land.
Abad also said that these landings have been going on for “several years” already, without the knowledge of local officials. He recently filed a resolution at the House of Representatives urging the DFA to explain why the landings continue, after the official end of Balikatan 02-2, and disclosed that he has brought the subject up with the DFA in the past.
“We don’t want to be part of any war,” warned Gov. Gato.
Down south, the Inquirer had reported on April 14 that Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar demanded an explanation for mysterious barrels that were being dropped by unmanned US spy planes into the coastal waters off Barangay Etub-etub in Sumisip town. Children in the area reportedly began experiencing “nausea, vomiting and diarrhea” after the surveillance drones were seen dropping the mysterious barrels.
Earlier, Sulu Rep. Hussin Amin had told the International Peace Mission that was sent to Basilan that American P3 Orion planes were dumping what he thought were “drums of toxic chemicals in at least three towns” in his province.
US spokesperson Maj. Cynthia Teramae denied the accusations, saying that P3 Orions cannot carry cargo, and Col. Daniel Servando denied that US forces were flying missions over Sulu. However, an unnamed USAF official later admitted that P3 Orions were indeed dropping barrels in Basilan, but claimed that the barrels were surveillance equipment called “Solobuoys,” which are used to detect submarines.
To date, the Abu Sayyaf are not known to have any submarines in their arsenal.

What Arroyo Gets

Arroyo’s quick and full-fledged support for the Bush administration’s War on Terror has so far generated some $4.6 billion in pledges of US economic and military aid to the Philippines – $92.2 million in defense assistance from the US, $1.5 billion in economic and trade assistance from the US, $246 million in loans and grants from the World Bank and $2.6 billion in trade and investments pledged by the US private sector.
More importantly, Arroyo has won the backing and full support of the Americans, something Ferdinand Marcos enjoyed for almost two decades until his health started failing him.
And look what the Marcos regime brought the Philippines: Prostitution, dead bodies, disappearances, displaced families, a huge mountain of debt and the exponential expansion of the Filipino diaspora under the government’s exploitative labor export policies.
As Arroyo embarks on a similarly shameless endeavor to court the patronage of the Americans, what will her legacy be?