Aquino pressed to declare PHL US drone free country
MANILA,
Philippines- An act ivist gr oup highly critical of and opposed to presence of US troops in the country today pressed President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to declare the Philippines a US drone free country.
In a press statement, the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pil ipinas ( Pamalakaya) said the Chief Executive can sign an executive order banning the presence and use of Washingt on drones in the country.
”The document declaring the Philippines as US drone free zone in East Asia and the Pacific can be signed by Aquino at any given time today if Mr. Aquino has that political balls and will to assert national sover- eignty and territorial integrity against the global cop in Washington DC,” said Salvador France, vice chairperson of Pamalakaya.
The US Embassy in Manila said its’military would deploy its drones to assist in aerial surveillance for humanitarian and search and rescue purposes only at the request of President Aquino. Earlier, Davao Cit y Mayor Rodr ido Duterte confirmed that UShad sought permission to use his city’s old airport as the base for operations of its drones, a request he denied saying he did not want any further security problem in his turf.
The US Embassy in Manila said at the request of the Philippine government, the US military has provided aerial surveillance using small unarmed, unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs) to support activities such as topographical analysis and safety estimates.
The US government said the AFP had requested the U.S. military to provide aerial surveillance assistance to support information gathering that has helped local missions such as humanitarian assistance in the case of floods or other natural disasters, or rescue and recovery operations.
But Pamalakaya’s France said the presence and use of US drones in the country for surveillance and other pur- poses does not only violate national sovereignty and territorial integrity but also places the lives of ordinary people to extreme danger and possible episodes of death and destruction.
The Pamalakaya official said U.S. drones had killed children and terrorized families in different parts of the world. France said the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 176 childrenhave beenmurdered in Pakistan alone. France said drone attacks had caused the death of an average of 4.8 childr en are per dayin Afghanistan .
Pamalakaya said President Aquino should stop the Department of National Defense ( DND) and the Department of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs from asking US drones.
Earlier, the DFA confirmed earlier this month that the US has been providing intelligence assistance to the Philippines through the deployment of P-3C Orions ( maritime surveillance aircraft) over the disputed West Philippine Sea ( South China Sea) as part of regular joint military exercises.
Meanwh i le, Pamalakaya reiterated its call to Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to reject the letter jointly signed by Def ense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and DFA secretar y Alberto del Rosario. The letter aims to convince both houses of Congress to support the proposed wider increase in US military presence in the country.
“The letter is not only poisonous. It’s content is extremely dangerous to the sovereign rights of the people. It is a collective death certificate to nearly 100 million Fil ipinos,” the group said.
In their letter to congressional leaders, the secretaries of national defense and foreign affairs had asserted that allowing