6-year-old toxic waste 'warrior' laid to rest

MABALACAT, Pampanga - "She is our toxic (waste) warrior, a testimony to Americans' inhumanity to Filipinos."

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III thus paid tribute to six-year-old Crizel Jane Valencia who was laid to rest at a cemetery at the Madapdap resettlement here yesterday afternoon. She died of leukemia believed to have been caused by toxic wastes left behind by the US Air Force at Clark Field.

Greenpeace International and the People's Task Force for Bases Clean-up (PTFBC) found out yesterday that another girl, eight-year-old Sheina Marie Espinosa of Barangay Amaic, Angeles City, also died of leukemia last January.

This brought to six the number of persons who have died of leukemia in the Clark area in the past two years.

The case of Sheina Marie surfaced as foreign and local Greenpeace volunteers, wearing astronaut-like protective suits, went to Hensonville in Barangay Malabanias near Amsic in Angeles City to recover a highly toxic power transformer believed to have been pilfered from Clark after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. It was found in a junkshop owned by one George Chua.

"Analysis of soil samples from the community where the transformer was found showed they contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) up to 18 times higher than levels considered hazardous," said Von Hernandez, Greenpeace official in the Philippines.

The 400-kilovolt transformer, measuring two meters high and weighing about two tons, was clearly marked as containing PCBs and belonged to the US government.

Chua said he bought the transformer from another junkshop in Angeles last January, unaware that it was highly toxic.

Sheila Espinosa, 31, a resident of nearby Barangay Amsic, informed Greenpeace and PTFBC officials about the death of her daughter Sheila Marie last January.

"Local communities surrounding Clark have for many years identified mysterious deaths and health complaints, including cancer, nervous system disorders and reproductive problems," Hernandez said, adding that "this is only the tip of the iceberg."

Crizel, who died last Friday on board the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior at the South Harbor in Manila, was diagnosed with leukemia in March last year. She was born on June 3, 1995 at an evacuation center for lahar-displaced families at Clark Field.

The evacuation center, which sits on a former motorpool area of the US Air Force, is believed to be highly contaminated with toxic wastes. The Department of Health declared the site "unfit for human habitation" recently.

The PTFBC has reported the deaths of at least 88 evacuees who once stayed at the Clark center, mostly from heart ailments and cancer.

Last year, the forensic office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) cited "80 percent probability" that the illnesses were triggered by toxic wastes.

Jack Weinberg, adviser to the Greenpeace "toxics campaign," told The STAR that "as an American, I am embarrassed that my government refuses to take responsibility for this pollution that is causing harm to innocent families. Neither Filipinos nor Americans should be forced to endure these hazards in their backyards."