Militant Group Vows : Protests to hound war games

ANGELES CITY - The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) has vowed to gather its forces nationwide to trail with protest actions all American soldiers involved in war games with the Philippine military.

"We expect to build up more participants in protest caravans, rallies, and vigils than during the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in 1996," said Roman Polintan, Bayan chairman in Central Luzon.

At the same time, Polintan and other leaders of groups under Bayan reported yesterday "increased militarization" in Central Luzon, apparently to tighten security for the Visiting Forces Agreement's (VFA) series of war exercises.

He said that since last Jan. 23, para-military men, backed by policemen, Scout Rangers, and Air Force soldiers, have been conducting alleged counter-insurgency operations in Sitio Pinag-anakan in Doña Remedios Trinidad town, in Bulacan.

The move, he said, was aimed at limiting access to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija where VFA war exercises are to be held.

The VFA is a pact signed by the United States and the Philippines that allows the resumption of joint large-scale military exercises.

Alan Cabas, secretary-general of the Promotion of Church and People's Response, said four Dumagat tribesmen in Sitio Pinag-anakan have been detained for days by members of a para-military unit purportedly as part of the government's anti-insurgency drive in the area.

The cooperative store of the Dumagats was also reportedly ransacked by the heavily armed para-military men who allegedly carted away some 53 cavans of rice belonging to the tribesmen, he said.

Polintan also said that mobile checkpoints have been installed along major highways in Central Luzon.

Polintan revealed that the national leadership of Bayan has decided to fully mobilize its network throughout the country for participation in anti-VFA activities at venues for VFA exercises such as Clark Field here, at Fort Magsaysay, at Sangley Point in Cavite, and in Palawan.

Security forces at Clark have been alerted against anti-VFA groups.

Erwin Manalo of the League of Filipino Students reported that soldiers and security men of the Clark Development Corp. confronted last Friday some 200 student rallyists at the extension school of the University of the Philippines at Clark.

Polintan said Bayan and its allied organizations are now better organized since the APEC in 1996.

"This is why we expect our anti-VFA activities to be more massive," he said.

Polintan added that he expects huge contingents from all over Luzon to join a protest caravan on Feb. 20 which will wind up in a vigil at Clark the following day when war exercises are expected to start.

Elmer Cato, information officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs' VFA task force, said seminars would be held for American and Filipino soldiers in the first week of February before the holding of field war exercises on Feb. 21.

He said Bayan wants the government to scrap not only the slated war exercises but the VFA which he described as a tool of the Americans to protect its interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The VFA is also a means for the US government to meddle in our local affairs," he said, while expressing fears that American presence in the country would again trigger various social problems such as prostitution, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and wide use of illegal drugs.