ANGELES CITY– A militant fisherfolk’s group expressed yesterday outrage over Pres. Aquino’s plan to tap US troops to guard the Tubbataha reef to prevent another accident similar to that caused recently by the USS Guardian that ran aground in the reef.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), backed by the Anakpawis party list, described the move as a “super roadshow puppetry” of the Aquino government to the US government.
Pamalakaya had earlier urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file charges against military officials and crew of the USS Guardian for allegedly violating Philippines laws on sovereignty and environment.
“Will someone tell Mr. Aquino to rise above the occasion?” said Pamalakaya vice chairperson Salvador France, as he described the President’s proposal as “patently unpatriotic.”
He said that the President should instead pursue “criminal and other appropriate charges against US navy officials and the 79-crew member of USS Guardian.”
Last Tuesday, the President said he welcomed the idea of deploying a US Navy led Peace Corps-type volunteers to help guard the Tubbataha Reef.
Aquino said the volunteers who would be under the command of the US Navy would not only guard the reef but also help in rehabilitation efforts and ensure that no sea vessel would run aground in the area again.
“Mr. Aquino’s pitch for US peace corps guarantees more US military intervention and aggression and will usher in another era of violations of our sovereignty,” France said.
Aquino revealed the proposal came from US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas.
This, even as Anakpawis party list vice chairperson Fernando Hicap asked Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to schedule joint or separate congressional inquiry on the Tubbataha reef incident.
Hicap said the election season should not prevent both leadership of Congress from calling investigations on the different repercussions of the USS Guardian grounding on the 130,000 hectare UNESCO- declared world heritage site.
