NDF: Hold Balikatan in flooded provinces

By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 14:58:00 01/16/2009
INQUIRER.net

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--The communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) in Bicol challenged the Philippine Army to hold the 2009 RP-US Balikatan exercises in provinces recently hit by flashfloods if their aim is purely humanitarian.

"Why is the 2009 Balikatan centered on Albay, Sorsogon, and Masbate, when these provinces have not really been hard hit by heavy rains, floods, and landslides unlike Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, or some areas in Mindanao?" Greg Bañares, NDF-Bicol spokesman, said in a statement released Friday.

"This only shows that the aim of US forces visiting Bicol is military in nature and not just humanitarian," Bañares said.

Over the week, storm surges and landslides triggered by heavy rains across the country have killed at least nine people and displaced nearly 200,000, according to disaster officials.

The tail-end of a cold front sweeping through the country's eastern seaboard has been bringing heavy rains across 11 provinces from northern Luzon to the eastern sections of the Visayas and Mindanao since last week.

Bañares claimed the aim of the joint military exercises to be held in April is to familiarize US forces with guerrilla conditions in the insurgency-torn Bicol region.

"May lumang kasabihan na, 'Mag-ingat sa mga Griyego na may dala-dalang regalo.'" [There is an old saying, ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts’],” he said.

Bishop Lucilo Quiambao of the Legazpi Diocese, in a local television news interview, warned the government not to allow US forces to get involved in armed battles and to protect civilians who might be caught in the crossfire.

He also warned that prostitution might worsen with the presence of the American troops, endangering people's morality, especially the youth.

The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan, New Patriotic Alliance) welcomed Quiambao's opposition to the 2009 Balikatan.

"Even the good bishop does not believe that the US troops will only be engaged in humanitarian missions because in every Balikatan exercise, war games and even actual combat operations are part of the package," said Tessa Lopez, Bayan-Bicol spokesperson.