WOMEN N.O. TO US TROOPS
(Women Network Opposed
to the Presence of US Military Troops in the Philippines)
The country is being laid under siege. Hordes of U.S. troops are being deployed
in various parts of the country. In no time, we shall stop counting as this
joint military exercise called “Balikatan 2002" finally loses its
guise as an anti-terrorist war.
This is not a war against terrorism. This is purely U.S. military intervention. And U.S. President George W. Bush puts it plainly “If governments can’t do it, America will!”
And so we ask our own president, Commander-in-chief Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo: why sanction this rape of our national sovereignty? Why sanction this rape of our territory? Why allow the U.S. to impose its will on our country as a sovereign, independent state? The U.S. has declared an indefinite, borderless global war. The troops will not be here on a temporary basis; they will likely stay here permanently.
Many sectors have raised legal, constitutional, historical and moral questions regarding the presence of U.S. troops. We raise our own as the specter of abuse, especially of women and children, grips us. Prostitution, AmerAsian children, rape, harassment, lay in the wake of interventionist war. This is not to mention the U.S. military bases’ toxic legacy in Central Luzon provinces, which has left behind an environmental destruction where children are dying of contamination and women conceiving babies with terminal illnesses. Even President Arroyo’s idea of limiting U.S. troops to their barracks but organizing recreation packages brings no comfort and inflames us instead. Far worse, this could be a repeat of Japan’s abominable “comfort stations.”
This affront comes
as Filipino women continue to bear the utter failure of the government to address
massive and dire poverty. Landlessness, job insecurity, high prices and lack
of basic social services - these are the pressing issues for majority of Filipino
women. These are gut issues, which President Arroyo cannot hope to resolve with
the presence of U.S. military troops.
We are a sovereign people. Our forebears have fought many battles resisting
foreign invaders. Our women have shown their mettle and the U.S. occupation
of the Philippines a century hence is replete with records of women’s valor.
And history has an uncanny way of repeating itself.
Today, as we sign our commitment on this paper, we want to put on notice that we want U.S. troops out of the Philippines now! We can fight our own battles with no need for U.S. big bullies. We cannot be made a lame excuse for the U.S. to spread and strengthen its imperial designs in the whole of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
As our final word to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, we say: “If you can’t send the U.S. troops out of the country, our people will!”
