ANGELES CITY- The fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and Anakpawis party list said yesterday they have sought the support of the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP), the International Fisherfolk and Fishworkers Coalition (IFWC) and the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) to pressure the US government to pay for the damage wrought on the Tubbataha Reef.
“We are also asking for the international groups to exert pressure on Malacanang and the White House to pull out all US troops, warships and aircraft in the Philippines and the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between Washington and GPH to ensure that an incident like Tubbataha environmental carnage will not happen again,” Pamalakaya said in a statement.
Pamalakaya is a member of the three big formations of international small-fisherfolk amd peasant alliances that maintain memberships in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Guadalupe, Spain, South Africa, Mauritania, Senegal, South Africa, Chile, Brazil, Honduras and Argentina.
Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap also said Pamalakaya will ask political support statements from networks and solidarity groups in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, China, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada and fraternal friends in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Italy.
Hicap earlier proposed that affected fisherfolk in Western Palawan Sea and Sulu-Celebes Sea file a “millennium class suit” against the US government.
Pamalakaya and Anakpawis party list also reiterated their call to the Department of Justice (DoJ) to file criminal and other appropriate charges against US Navy officials and crew who were responsible for illegal entry in the Tubbataha area.
They lamented the failure of Justice Sec. Leila de Lima “to take an official position on the Tubbataha Reef environmental disaster.”
