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Statement of Mindanao NGOs and Coalitions on the Peace Talks |
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This week, the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front stood on the verge of signing an agreement touted to bring an end to the decades-long war in Mindanao in the Southern Philippines. This sparked an uproar and the Philippine Supreme Court subsequently stepped in to prevent the signing. Below is a statement from a number of mainly Mindanao-based as well as national peace coalitions and formations on the issue.
We speak in behalf of the women, children and the displaced civilian communities in Mindanao who stand to benefit from the successful conclusion of the GRP-MILF peace process. We dare to speak because of dire survival. For many decades now, our lives depict the curse of the so-called “collateral damage” in this long internecine armed conflict. We want to finally put an end to the war in Mindanao. We cannot allow this cycle of violence to further victimize our children and the next generation.
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Of neoconservatives and neoliberals: U.S. foreign policy in post-Bush America |
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 Posted by: Alecks P. Pabico on the PCIJ website | July 6, 2008 at 11:21 a
THAT the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush is finally coming to an end may be comforting a thought to many in light of elections in the United States to choose a new president this coming November. But the choices of American voters, having since been narrowed down to John McCain, the Republican Party nominee, and Barack Obama, the Democratic Party nominee, are hardly offering the rest of the world much hope in terms of any fundamental change in U.S. foreign policy.
Visiting academic Dr. Jim Glassman makes such an assessment in a series of lectures last week before political science students at the University of the Philippines and civil-society groups at the Focus for the Global South office. Even Obama's campaign promise of a "Change You Can Believe In" does not evoke much optimism in the associate professor of geography at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
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Status Symbol: The Status of Visiting Forces Agreement with Australia |
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Even as the petition challenging the
constitutionality of the Philippines' Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)
with the United States awaits judgment at the Supreme Court, a similar
agreement, the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with
Australia, is inching towards ratification at the Philippine Senate.
Signed in Canberra in May 2007, the agreement still needs the approval
of 2/3 of the Senate's members for the agreement to take effect. The
executive department transmitted the agreement in November last year
and the Senate's committee on foreign relations held its first public
hearing last February. Committee Chair Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago
has indicated that no further committee hearings may be necessary and
that the agreement may soon be submitted to the plenary for
deliberations.
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Citizens' Peace Watch Fact-Finding Mission to Zamboanga City and Sulu Report Available |
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The final report of the Citizens' Peace Watch Fact-Finding Mission to
Zamboanga City and Sulu last February 18-21, 2008 is now out and can be
downloaded in PDF form from: http://www.focusweb.org/philippines/docs/CPWReport.pdf
The Citizens' Peace Watch is an independent initiative of concerned
citizens brought together to continuously report on US military
presence and intervention in the country.
This report hopes to be a resource for policy-makers, journalists, academics, social movements and civil society organizations.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Citizens’ Peace Watch fact-finding mission to Zamboanga City and
Sulu from February 18-21 found proof reinforcing concerns that
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the US has established military basing in the Philippines
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the US is involved in actual combat operations in the country
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the US military has, in complicity with the Philippine military, committed human rights violations in the Philippines
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the US is conducting operations outside the control of the Philippine government and military
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the US military’s so-called humanitarian projects are mere cover for
military operations that do not benefit the local population
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US basing and intervention in the country is contributing to insecurity and leading to an escalation in conflict
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Map of US Military Present in the Philippines Now Available for Download |
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This map illustrates the different ways and forms by which the United
States has established its military basing in the Philippines. It shows
the locations of the increasing number of military exercises the US has
been holding year-round in venues throughout the country from Batanes
to Tawi-Tawi since 2001. It also charts the growing number of ports
that an increasing number of US warships have been visiting. It
highlights the under-reported presence of a unit of US Special
Operations Forces that has been stationed continuously and indefinitely
in various camps throughout Mindanao, with its headquarters inside the
Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City, since 2002.
With the US and Philippine governments attempting to downplay their
actions in the country, the map makes visible the true scale and extent
of US military presence in the country today.
The map accompanies Focus on the Global South's recent report, At the
Door of All the East: The Philippines in United States Military
Strategy, which explains how the US is transforming its presence in the
Philippines in a way that seeks to heighten its capacity for
intervention within the country and in the region.
The JPG file of the map is now available online for download here
The PDF file of the report, At the Door of All the East: The
Philippines in United States Military Strategy, may also be downloaded
from here
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