Moro groups commemorate termination of US Military Basing in 1991

September 17, 2010 | Cotabato City - In commemoration of the 19th anniversary of the termination of US military bases in the country, members of the OUT NOW! Coalition in this city held a demonstration yesterday exhorting the present administration of President Noynoy Aquino to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

“P-Noy should make good of his promise to heed the true desire of the people. We do not wish for our government to willingly subject its people including all its other resources to the abuse and exploitation of a foreign power,” Suara spokesperson Michael Dumamba, a lead convenor of OUT NOW!, said.

The VFA, with its onerous provisions, goes against the very essence of Filipinos’ being a sovereign and independent nation, according to Dumamba.

He also laments that Moro people continue to “fall prey to duplicitous US interventions” to this day.

“US engagement with Filipinos more especially with the Moros has always been underhanded,” he said.

OUT NOW! is strongly supporting the latest joint resolutions initiated in both Houses of Congress that call for the termination of the VFA mainly on grounds of its unconstitutionality.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago sponsored Joint Resolution No.3 in the Senate calling for the termination of VFA. A similar version has also been passed by Bayan-Muna Representative Teddy Casino through a House Joint Resolution no.7.

Bai Ali Indayla, spokesperson of KAWAGIB Alliance for the Advancement of Moro Human Rights, said the scrapping of the US basing rights in 1991 was “proof of the courage and patriotism” of the leaders then.

She said the strong demand to have the VFA abrogated comes from almost every sector.

“We hope P-Noy will not take the path of his predecessor and immediately act on this,” she adds.

Indaya avers that VFA degrades Filipinos in their own country. Her group, KAWAGB, is at the lead of demanding justice to slain Filipino interpreter Gregan Cardeno, who died under suspicious circumstances inside a US military barracks in Marawi City.

Despite strong evidence of foul play at hand, she said, the US soldiers refused to cooperate with the investigation and maintained that Cardeno committed suicide.

She said the VFA essentially protects US troops from any moral or legal culpability while in Philippine soil.

“It is a continuing insult to us Filipinos,” she said. ###