PRINCESS CAROLINE LOBBIES FOR TOXIC
VICTIMS
by
Tonette Orejas
PDI Central Luzon Desk
(Philippine Daily Inquirer, Oct. 1, 2002, p. 14)
Princess Caroline of Monaco took the
cudgels for Filipino toxic waste victims and residents of communities
outside former United States military bases in the Philippines, according to
a group helping toxic waste victims.
Princess Caroline, in a letter to US
President George W. Bush, urged the latter to start the "prompt instigation
of procedures to remedy the dangerous condition in which they (Filipino
toxic waste victims) are forced to live."
The Princess is the president of the
Association Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance (AMADE or World Association of
Children's Friends) founded by her late mother, Princess Grace.
She lamented the "tragic failure" of
the American military to rid the former Clark Air Base in Pampanga and Subic
Naval Base in Zambales of hazardous waste before it left in 1991.
Philippine senators, voting 12-11 to
reject a new bases treaty in 1991, ordered Clark and Subic closed, as well
as five support facilities in various parts of Luzon.
The military bases in the Philippines
were used by the US for almost a century . Clark and Subic, the biggest
outside the US mainland, were used for the US wars in Korea, Vietnam and
Iraq.
Princess Caroline sent the letter to
Bush on August 2. She also encouraged Bush to "expedite the necessary
counter-measures to redress this critical and life-threatening situation."
Almost 200 children and adults who had
lived or worked in the former bases had died of various ailments, many
through various types of cancer.
Two government-sponsored studies,
privately funded examination of the soil and water sources, and a report by
the General Accounting Office, the investigating arms of the US Congress,
have confirmed the presence of hazardous chemicals and the pollution of
soil, water and air in the former US military bases.
Princess Caroline asked Bush to
"provide much needed humanitarian aid and compensation to the victims and
their families."
In a letter in April, Lawyer Eric
Mallonga, AMADE Philippines president presented to Princess Caroline a
compilation of photographs of disabled and sick residents, mostly children,
and various documents and studies confirming the existence of toxic wastes
in the former bases.
Files on "child toxic waste warrior"
Crizel Valencia and the campaign for a toxic waste-free environment that she
waged months before her death in 2000, formed part of the briefing materials
given to the Princess.
In a letter released by AMADE
Philippines on Tuesday, Princess Caroline told Bush that " Hundreds of
thousands of children will die within the next decade as a result of this
exposure."
She reminded Bush that retired US
Admiral Eugene Carroll had testified in an international forum that his
command, the USS Midway, dumped the ship's waste at Subic Bay and land
within the former naval base.
She said she was aware that US
Secretary of State Colin Powell had "admitted moral responsibility for his
alarming state of affairs."
In a statement, Mallonga lamented the
double-standard policy of the US. The US, he said, has sites intended for
radioactive, chemical and nuclear wastes. These, he noted, are known as
"National Sacrifice Zones."
"The US has sacrificed its territorial
lands. But here in the Philippines, the US has sacrificed not just our lands
but our people and our children," Mallonga said.
"They have sacrificed the future of
our children with their own selfish national interests as the paramount
consideration and not the interests of our children."
Mallonga said Princess Caroline was
considering an official state visit to the Philippines, possibly next year,
"to visit, listen to and inspire the victims."
