A CALL FOR
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON CLEANING UP THE U.S. MILITARY BASES
by
Rep. Wigberto
E. Tanada
4th District,
Quezon Province
Speech before the First
International Conference on US Military Toxics and Bases Clean-up
hosted jointly by the People's Task Force on Bases Cleanup and
Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition, Asian Social Institute, Manila.
Nov. 23-26, 1997.
Tanada was a former Senator of the Philippines for eight
years. He led the Philippine Senate in the historic rejection of
the proposed renewal of the bases treaty in Sept. 16,1991. He is
currently President of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement
(PRRM.)
This International Conference on US
Military Toxics and Bases Cleanup is a milestone and a historic event. As
far as I know, it is the first convergence of organizations worldwide to
articulate national experiences and to map out a common strategy on the
problem of toxic wastes and hazardous substances in existing and former US
military bases and facilities.
We are happy that you have joined us today
for this historic international forum where you can share with us your
country's experience with US military toxics and the process of bases
cleanup, and at the same time learn from other people's experiences in
justly demanding the United States government to face up to its
responsibility for the toxic mess it created.
I am hopeful that we can all join forces
with other peoples similarly faced with the toxic and hazardous waste
problem generated by US military forces so that there can be a stronger
international network for demanding the cleanup of existing and former US
military facilities.
The issues emerging from various countries
where there are US military facilities are tied to a common denominator:
environmental degradation and negligence. Long years of misuse and abuse
of our soil through unproductive military activities have resulted in the
emission, discard or discharge of undetermined amounts of toxic and
hazardous waste on the soil or into the air and water. The figures are
staggering.
In the United States itself, 18,000
contaminated sites have been identified in approximately 1,600 active
military facilities. Claims and suits have been filed against the US
government and Pentagon by communities and local governments to compel the
US military establishment to assume responsibility for its disastrous
toxic legacy. As to overseas US military facilities and bases, the
situation is even worse if we are to consider the fact that between 1984
and 1991, there were 1,259 country claims related to toxic and hazardous
waste contamination filed against the US government worldwide. And the
issue has barely been unearthed!
In the Asia-Pacific region, where US
military forces still operate under a Cold War budget and in a state of
Cold War footing, military activities and military exercises continue
unabated, at the magnitude of those held during the height of the Cold
War. It is as if the Cold War has not ended in the Asia-Pacific,
targeting this time drug syndicates, terrorists, and most recently,
"trouble makers" -- imagined or real -- purportedly out to disrupt the
APEC summit meeting.
In the Philippines, there is more than
enough preliminary evidence of the toxic waste problem from the former US
bases. These include no less than documents from the US Department of
Defense such as "Environmental Review of the Drawdown Activities at Clark
Air Base" (dated September 1991) and, "Potential Restoration Sites on
Board the US Facility, Subic Bay" (October, 1992). There is also the US
General Accounting Office (GAO) report, entitled "Military Base Closures,
US Financial Obligations in the Philippines" (1992) as well as the
independent report of the World Health Organization (May 9,1993). All
these reports admit and confirm the presence of hazardous and toxic wastes
in the former US military bases, citing known and potentially contaminated
sites in both Subic and Clark.
In addition, there are the independent
studies by concerned scientists and toxic experts from the United States
and Canada which have verified the initial documentation through limited
tests on the former baselands. Likewise, local community groups from
Olongapo, Subic town, Angeles City and Mabalacat, including their local
government officials, have pushed for the investigation of the problem
because of its impact on the people's health and safety.
Because of these indicators and evidences,
I have filed resolutions in the Philippine Congress to compel the United
States to conduct scientific investigations and tests, and to face up to
its responsibility in cleaning up the toxic mess it left behind in the
former bases. Lately, Senator Orlando Mercado, Chairman of the Senate
Defense Committee, has also pressed for an inquiry on this issue.
As we gather today for this international
forum, we hear the trumpeting of a new era at Subic where the heads of
state of 18 member-governments of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
are going to meet. Do we scare away foreign investors when we raise the
toxic waste issue as a public health issue and demand justice? Or is it
better, as government publicists would want it, that we give them the
necessary assurance that all is well and that this problem is being
addressed head-on?
But where are the concrete steps and
remedial measures to prove that the problem of toxic wastes is indeed
being squarely addressed? The point is, environmental issues should not
and must not be ignored as our country's President girds for a series of
meetings with the US President. It will be reassuring to see this
environmental concern directly addressed because the life, health and
welfare of the Filipino people are directly at risk.
My friends, the issue of the bases cleanup
is a good opportunity and occasion for the United States to practice what
it preaches about caring for the earth. It can start the process by
directly assuming responsibility to the host country and thereby standing
up to its own claims that it is indeed concerned with environmental
pollution and destruction.
As we join forces in the international
campaign for bases clean-up in our respective countries, we should also
challenge the APEC member-countries to take up this pressing environmental
problem caused by the US military forces. The international community
should also push for an international environmental treaty which shall
apply the "polluters-must-pay" principle for all governments, military
forces and multinational corporations.
It is going to be a difficult and a
formidable task, but that is what they also told us when we struggled
against the continued presence of the US military bases.
Together, let us join hands in this
international campaign for foreign military bases cleanup. Together, let
us speak with one voice in declaring to the US government: Gentlemen,
please clean up the mess you left behind. And please, do it now!
