‘BCDA refused to honor cemetery deal’

MANILA, Philippines - The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) refused to honor an agreement allowing the burial of those who served in the Philippine Scouts and the US Armed Forces (USAF) at the Clark Veterans Cemetery (CVC), according to the US embassy.

“The embassy has never objected to anyone meeting these criteria being interred at CVC.  In fact, there are currently more Filipinos buried at CVC than there are Americans,” Press Attache Kurt Hoyer said in a statement.

He said the criteria are provided in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Paciano Casanova and Ambassador Philip Goldberg in December 2013.  

Under the agreement, those who served in the USAF, regardless of nationality and those who served in the Philippine Scouts can be buried at CVC.  

Hoyer said Casanova, in contravention of the agreement, stopped burials at CVC, insisting that the terms of the MOU be renegotiated.

“Mr. Casanova’s inexplicable opposition to allowing new burials under the terms called for in the MOU caused unnecessary grief and hardship to bereaved families, including Filipino families, merely looking to honor the final wishes of their loved ones,” Hoyer said.

He said the US Congress passed legislation that will allow funding to restore and maintain CVC under the auspices of the American Battlefield Monuments Commission.

Hoyer said close to $1 million have so far been spent for restoration efforts, adding there are plans for a $5 million restoration plan.

“The embassy of the United States is proud to honor the wishes of all those who meet the criteria stated in the MOU signed by Mr. Casanova and Ambassador Goldberg and we are very pleased that burials at CVC are now continuing per that agreement,” Hoyer said.

“The families who have suffered the loss of a relative who served in the Philippine Scouts or in the US Armed Forces, regardless of nationality, deserve nothing less,” he added.