On US Drone, Tubbataha Reef Violations, and Protesting the VFA

ABS-CBN's TV Patrol Bicol interviews Karapatan-Bikol on its standpoint regarding recent incursions of US military on Philippine Territory, and the call for VFA's abrogation.

on crashed US Target Drone

on grounded USS Guardian

The January 25 protest action against VFA

Spreading Dissent

Members of Karapatan, Kabataan Partylist and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas on January 25 held a propaganda action in front of Legazpi City's Pinaglabanan monument to protest the US' and PNoy regime's continuing violation of Philippine sovereignty as demonstrated by the recent smashing of USS Guardian on World Heritage Site Tubbataha Reef. Scrapping the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty was the group's ultimate call.

To End VFA is to Uphold Sovereignty

News Release

January 25, 2013

Reference: Vince Casilihan

Karapatan-Bikol

"Not a day more!"

Vince Casilihan of Karapatan-Albay has this to press for as regards the recent damaging by USS Guardian of World Heritage Site Tubbataha Reef on January 17. "And we do not only mean that the destructive warship has to be removed from the protected area and its commanders punished in no time. Patriotic and environmentally-concerned Bikolanos demand that no less than the Visiting Forces Agreement has to go," Casilihan clarifies.

As Karapatan leads a protest action in front of the Pinaglabanan Monument in Legazpi City today at 9am, Casilihan expresses the organization’s anxieties. He bewails that each single moment that the government pays no heed to various sectors’ clamor to repeal the VFA, the danger of US military equipment and machinery smashing into Philippine territory heightens at a recurrent basis.  Casilihan said, “Within just under two weeks, Philippine sovereignty has been trampled by the US military, what with the US Navy drone recovered in Masbate in January 6, and just recently the trespassing of the USS Guardian in Philippine waters. Who knows what other US military vessel or aircraft will come crashing in the next days?”

Continuing US defilement of Philippine sovereignty spews out of Masbate waters

News Release

Reference: Vince Casilihan

Karapatan-Bikol

January 8, 2013

The recovery of a crashed US drone on the waters of Brgy. Bagahanglad, San Jacinto, Masbate on January 6 affirms the US imperialists' continuing outright violation of the country's sovereignty.  Vince Casilihan of Karapatan-Bikol deplores the presence of a US drone on Philippine territory as "an incursion of the US to spy on the rich natural resources of the country in its rampage of imperialist plunder."  According to Casilihan, the said drone have most certainly surveyed, at the very least, the lands and seas of Bicol to provide the US valuable data on rich mineral deposits and other natural assets of the region for prospective pillage.

Likewise, Karapatan maintains that the incident amplifies the government's blatant disregard of the Constitution. "For one," Casilihan adds, "drones such as the one found in Masbate are US military weaponry and are launched from the US Navy's advanced nuclear-powered warships. The government clearly violates the Philippine Constitution on provisions in relation to nuclear weapons, and as regards foreign military troops and facilities."