Militants want Senate probe on planned naval base in Palawan

MANILA, Philippines - Fishermen belonging to the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) will urge the Senate committees on foreign affairs and national defense to investigate the plan to transform Oyster Bay in Palawan into a naval base for US warships.

Salvador France, Pamalakaya vice chairman, said yesterday they would ask Senate President Franklin Drilon to act on their appeal.

France said that the planned construction of a mini naval base in the island paradise constitutes a joint Washington-Manila crime against national sovereignty and destruction of natural resources and marine environment in the area.

“The Senate must be compelled to act in accordance with the collective interest of the people and must do its duty to uphold and protect the country’s sovereignty and national patrimony from American aggressors,” he said.

Commodore Joseph Rostum Peña, commander of the Philippines’ western command, confirmed that Oyster Bay, overlooking the disputed West Philippine Sea, would be transformed into a port for the country’s naval frigates as well as for use by US warships.

“We will contest this grand mockery of Philippine sovereignty in the streets and before the court. US President Barack Obama and the puppet president of the Philippines should be held accountable for this,” France said.

The Pamalakaya official said the construction of a naval base in Oyster Bay for US military pivot in Asia is grossly unconstitutional and would put the lives of the people there in danger.

Developing the remote island paradise into a military facility is seen as a bid to check China’s growing power in the West Philippine Sea, France said.

The group noted that the planned construction of a naval base in Palawan is in preparation for the signing of a framework agreement between the US and the Aquino administration on the increased rotational presence of American forces in the Philippines.

According to France, the Senate should investigate the Oyster Bay project and summon officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of National Defense to compel them to report on the current status of the talks between Malacañang and the US government on the naval base plan.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, warned that the impending construction of a de-facto US military base in Oyster Bay would threaten the marine and coastal ecosystems in the area.