Was US envoy kept in the dark on bases in RP?
Was US envoy kept in the dark on bases in RP?
By Julie Alipala
Mindanao Bureau
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The government of the United States may have kept the existence of its military bases in the Philippines a secret even
from its ambassador to the country, Kristie Kenney.
A member of the Thai think tank Focus on Global South, who conducted the research that became the basis for the group's report on the existence of US bases in the Philippines, said it appeared Kenney may have been purposely kept in the dark by her own government.
During a visit here on Thursday, Kenney denied the US had reestablished military bases in the country.
Herbert Docena said Kenney's denial contradicted the report of the US government's Overseas Basing Commission, also known as the Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structures of the United States.
The commission was created by the US Congress to review the US military presence abroad.
Global presence
Docena said the information about the US developing "cooperative security locations" or CSLs, a euphemism for military bases, in the Philippines was published in the commission's final report that was submitted to President George W. Bush and the US Congress in May 2005.
He said Kenney's statement that the US did not "need bases" also contradicted publicly available official US documents that stressed the need for the United States to retain and expand its global military presence.
"Kenney, who admitted not having read our report yet, is either uninformed about her own government's actions or is deliberately misrepresenting their actions in the Philippines. In either case, her denial must be seen in light of the constitutional ban on foreign bases in the country. Simply put, any admission on her part could mean an end to US basing in the country," Docena said in an e-mail to the
Inquirer on Friday.
Revealing
He said the wording of Kenney's denial was revealing.
Docena said that, technically, the US was "not building bases" because the CSLs were installations that may have already been built.
Among the locations the Focus report mentioned were Clark and Subic, both former US military bases in Luzon, and Mactan International
Airport in the Visayas and General Santos City Airport in Mindanao.
"As the Pentagon's own definition of these facilities, CSLs may be existing military or private facilities that may nominally belong to the Philippine government or even to private contractors but which would be provided to the US for its use as needed," he said.
Docena said that aside from CSLs, the Focus report also pointed out that the US had installations in Mindanao which US troops themselves called "forward operating bases" or "advance operating bases."
By Julie Alipala
Mindanao Bureau
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The government of the United States may have kept the existence of its military bases in the Philippines a secret even
from its ambassador to the country, Kristie Kenney.
A member of the Thai think tank Focus on Global South, who conducted the research that became the basis for the group's report on the existence of US bases in the Philippines, said it appeared Kenney may have been purposely kept in the dark by her own government.
During a visit here on Thursday, Kenney denied the US had reestablished military bases in the country.
Herbert Docena said Kenney's denial contradicted the report of the US government's Overseas Basing Commission, also known as the Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structures of the United States.
The commission was created by the US Congress to review the US military presence abroad.
Global presence
Docena said the information about the US developing "cooperative security locations" or CSLs, a euphemism for military bases, in the Philippines was published in the commission's final report that was submitted to President George W. Bush and the US Congress in May 2005.
He said Kenney's statement that the US did not "need bases" also contradicted publicly available official US documents that stressed the need for the United States to retain and expand its global military presence.
"Kenney, who admitted not having read our report yet, is either uninformed about her own government's actions or is deliberately misrepresenting their actions in the Philippines. In either case, her denial must be seen in light of the constitutional ban on foreign bases in the country. Simply put, any admission on her part could mean an end to US basing in the country," Docena said in an e-mail to the
Inquirer on Friday.
Revealing
He said the wording of Kenney's denial was revealing.
Docena said that, technically, the US was "not building bases" because the CSLs were installations that may have already been built.
Among the locations the Focus report mentioned were Clark and Subic, both former US military bases in Luzon, and Mactan International
Airport in the Visayas and General Santos City Airport in Mindanao.
"As the Pentagon's own definition of these facilities, CSLs may be existing military or private facilities that may nominally belong to the Philippine government or even to private contractors but which would be provided to the US for its use as needed," he said.
Docena said that aside from CSLs, the Focus report also pointed out that the US had installations in Mindanao which US troops themselves called "forward operating bases" or "advance operating bases."