Group: No to Balikatan in Clark, Floridablanca

ANGELES CITY — A farmers group has opposed the Balikatan military exercises between the United States and Philippines, particularly those to be conducted in Clark and Floridablanca.
The Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (Farmers’ Alliance in Central Luzon) or AMGL said the military exercises would also be held in Subic in Zambales; Crow Valley in Camp O’Donnel in Capas, Tarlac; and Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
AMGL members joined the protest caravan led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) against the Visiting Forces Agreement and Balikatan military exercises. The caravan, coming from Manila, proceeded to Basa Air Base and Clark.
“The areas of Balikatan exercises are usually where farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous people get their livelihood. During these dangerous exercises, they are banned from attending to their crops or fishing at the seas, thus, it affects their livelihood,” said Joseph Canlas, AMGL chairman.
The group said military reservations such as of Clark Airbase in Pampanga, Crow Valley in Tarlac and Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija include lands that are being cultivated by farmers and indigenous Aetas, while the bay area in Zambales near Subic and San Antonio town are usual fishing grounds to communities along the bay.
“The Balikatan exercises treat farmers and fisherfolk as mere pests as they are totally driven off their lands. Their rights to livelihood are totally trampled upon. We totally condemn this recurring incident,” Canlas said.
Canlas said the Clark reservation covers 59,600 hectares, while Crow Valley covers 17,814 hectares. Moreover, the Fort Magsaysay military reservation covers 35,000 hectares reaching the Pacific Ocean, including the Sierra Madre mountain ranges and 12 kilometers of coastline.
In Crow Valley, the group said an Aeta community who had ancestral claim was displaced when the Department of National Defense (DND) rejected it. The American forces from Combat Logistics Battalion 3 recently constructed Camp Palacio in Crow Valley, equipped with fiber optics technology for communication.
AMGL said farmers in the region, as well as the country’s citizen have no benefit from the Balikatan exercises and VFA that led to it.
The group said its objectives are to secure its base in Southeast Asia to exploit untapped resources such as oil and natural gas, guard against China and North Korea and to use the country as its base to launch wars of aggression.
Aside from establishing its geo-political base in Southeast Asia, AMGL said the exercise aims to threaten the resurging movement of farmers in the region.
The group added that the Aquino government plans to convert major areas of Central Luzon into industrial and commercial hubs that would evidently displace many farmers. It is initiated by the implementation of Metro Luzon Urban Beltway (MLUB) and North Luzon Agri-Business Quadrangle that included the construction of North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), Central Luzon Expressway (CLEx) and North Luzon East Expressway (NLEx East).
“Aside from these highway projects, president Aquino is also promoting mining that seriously damages the environment, displaces farmers and plunders our natural resources,” Canlas said.
AMGL said the Aquino government had lined up anti-farmer and anti-people policies and programs that would undoubtedly drive the region’s people to resist and protest, thus the former is using the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Balikatan military exercises and its counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan to thwart the looming unrest.
“President Aquino is a traitor to the people of Central Luzon and the country. He has sold the future of our children and of the next generation. The peasantry and the people of the region should join the nationwide call to junk the VFA and Balikatan,” Canlas said.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2012/04/17/group-no-balikatan-clark-floridablanca-216602
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