Crusade for dead seen to bear $5-M US funding

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – At the Clark Veterans Cemetery in this former US military base, the living’s crusade for the dead is alive and will likely come to a $5-million fruition.

An agreement is expected to be signed before the yearend between the Philippines and the US governments on a law signed by US President Barrack Obama last Jan. 11.

The law allows the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) to take over the maintenance of the cemetery, said Dennis Wright, founder of the Clark Veterans Cemetery Restoration Association (CVCRA).

The signing would lead to an initial $5 million funding from the US government for the upgrade the 20-acre cemetery where the remains of 8,600 veterans of World War I and II rest.

“When the Americans abandoned its Air Force base at Clark in 1991, there was no provision on the cemetery so it was left in the hands of the members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) who remained in Angeles City,” Wright said.

Three years ago, Wright, who was once stationed in the country as an officer of the US Navy and now heads the Peregrine firm developing a “global city” in this freeport, urged the US government to take responsibility of the cemetery.

The ABMC maintains and provides funds for the American cemeteries in Manila and Cabanatuan City.

“Those buried at the Clark cemetery deserve to be honored by the US government. And they include scores of Filipinos who had served in the Philippine Scouts in American wars,” Wright said.

Guy Hilbero, executive officer of the memorial of the 26th Cavalry of the Philippine Scouts Regiment here, said Wright’s move was supported by various groups, including the American Legion, the VFW, the Vietnam Veterans Association, and the Bataan Death March Survivors.

Last year, the US Senate passed Senate Bill 2320, known as Remembering America’s Forgotten Veterans Cemetery Act of 2012.

In January, Obama signed the bill into law providing an initial $5 million fund for the rehabilitation of the Clark cemetery.

However, ABMC secretary Joseph Maxwell Cleland said his commission could not take over the Clark cemetery without detailed agreement between the US and Philippine governments.

Wright said that an agreement has already been ironed out and  was supposed to have been signed during the supposed visit of Obama to the Philippines earlier this month. But the visit was cancelled due to the US government shutdown.

A source from the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) said President Aquino would meet with BCDA officials on Nov. 5 for the signing of the agreement on the Clark cemetery.