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Issue Number 32, October 2009
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 32, October 2009
NEW ZEALAND AND THE PHILIPPINES: MILITARY TIES OR
PEACE TIES?
- Maire Leadbeater
This article was published in Pinoy Weekly
Online ( www.pinoyweekly.org ), 16/5/09.
Maire Leadbeater, of Auckland, was a leading figure in
PSNA in the 1980s and remains an active member. Maire has
also been a high profile peace activist for many decades.
Ed.
Opposition is mounting in the Philippines against the
Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the US rebuild of its
military presence. The latest news of another shocking
rape of a Filipina by a US Marine has further heightened
the calls for the abrogation of the ten year old Visiting
Forces Agreement (VFA). Women and other sectoral groups
say that the VFA is responsible for grave and ongoing
human rights abuses (see Murray Hortons
articles elsewhere in this issue on the VFA and the
acquittal of the US Marine charged with raping the
Filipina. Ed.).
Special Warfare Exercises, Military Exports
It is a good time to reflect on the defence ties between
the Philippines and a junior Western ally, New Zealand.
Along with the Philippines New Zealand has some
experience of resisting US pressure in our case
over the visits of nuclear warships back in the 1980s.
During the Marcos times New Zealand forces participated
in large military exercises in the Philippines such as
the Cope Thunder exercise where our Skyhawks used to
practice dodging imitation Soviet radars at the Crow
Valley electronic warfare range. More covertly, New
Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) personnel took part in
special or counter-insurgency warfare exercises conducted
by the US at their former bases at Subic Bay Naval Base
and Clark Air Force Base. We only learned about the
special warfare exercise (SPECWAREX) in 1981 when two New
Zealand soldiers were listed among those killed in a US
C130 transport plane during one such exercise.
The downfall of Marcos, in 1986, came as the Labour
government in New Zealand was hitting its anti-nuclear
stride and at a time when peace activists were pushing
their leaders to take the peace commitment further. There
were strong campaigns urging that New Zealand should
withdraw from alliances with nuclear powers and cease
taking part in exercises designed for intervention in
distant conflicts. In 1986 there was a hiatus in military
training programmes offered to the Philippines under our
Mutual Assistance Programme. We lobbied Government to
declare that there would be no resumption of defence ties
to the unreformed military of the Philippines, and were
advised by the Defence Minister of the day, Frank
OFlynn, that any future military aid to the
Philippines would be limited to non-combat
areas such as technical training.
At the same time peace activists were also keeping a
close eye on New Zealands emerging arms export
industry. There was a lively nationwide peace campaign
against the proposed export to India and the Philippines
of a New Zealand-made device called a Mere mortar
calculator. This handheld military device was
technologically sophisticated for the time as it could
store the positions of up to 99 battlefield targets. A
mere is a traditional Maori stone weapon, and many were
indignant at this choice of name for a military device
that would be used in a guerrilla war situation against
our Pacific brothers and sisters. The manufacturers
explanation that the name was just an acronym for Mortar
Elevation Ranging Equipment did not seem convincing. I am
not sure now if any of these devices ever made their way
to the Philippines, but the campaign certainly helped to
heighten awareness about the ongoing struggle for justice
in that country.
From Peace Brigade To Protests Against Gloria
In 1988 the Philippines Solidarity Network set out to
organise a major project: a 17 strong team of New
Zealanders travelling to the Philippines to take part in
the 1988-89 Peace Brigade or Peace Caravan (the
delegation was headed by Maire and included me. There is
a more detailed account of the Peace Brigade elsewhere in
this issue in Maires article about the NZ Security
Intelligence Service spying on both her and the
Philippines Solidarity movement in the 1980s. Ed.)
The Brigade was designed to offer international guests
from 18 countries an exposure experience to
learn more about the struggle against foreign military
bases and other linked campaigns for human rights, labour
rights and land reform. The programme culminated with the
Asia-Pacific Peoples Conference on Peace and Development
and a two day peace caravan to protest at the two major
US bases: Subic and Clark.
The Brigade, and New Zealanders participation in
it, was highly controversial our visas were issued
with strict conditions about who we were allowed to meet
and the Chief of the former Philippines Constabulary,
General Montana, said we would be treated like
common criminals and paedophiles if we stepped out
of line. Media interest was heightened when the Manila
Conference was told about a hitherto secret Mindanao base
at Bukidnon, which peace researcher Owen Wilkes described
as a scorekeeper base designed to detect and
record nuclear explosions (Roland Simbulans
obituary of Owen Wilkes is in Kapatiran 25/26,
December 2005, http://www.converge.org.nz/psna/Kapatiran/KapNo25n26/Kap25n26Art/art113a.htm - Ed.).
Thus, in 1990 and 1991, Philippines issues were high on
the agenda of the New Zealand peace movement. It is true
that the level of peace activism declined somewhat after
the 1987 nuclear free legislation was passed, but the
movement had become more international in its outlook.
The mass campaigns in the Philippines against the US
bases were very inspiring and New Zealand activists could
see clearly that the stakes were high for the whole
region. If the United States was forced to leave its
massive naval and air bases in the Philippines that would
be a major step back from the nuclear brink and towards a
more peaceful Asia Pacific. New Zealanders rejoiced with
Filipinos when the last carrier group pulled out of Subic
Bay in 1992.
In 2007 President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited this
country to take part in an Asia-Pacific inter-faith
dialogue, ironically aimed at strengthening
regional security while promoting peace and
tolerance. She was met with determined protest
action about extrajudicial killings. Since then there has
been a renewed focus on the Philippines in our human
rights and union sectors. The anti-bases movement in this
country is again making common cause with the Philippines
movement and promoting awareness about the implications
of the Visiting Forces Agreement.
NZ Military Back In Philippines For 09 Exercise
In May 2009 the United States and the Philippines hosted
an exercise for the Association of South East Asian
Countries (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF) called a Voluntary
Demonstration of Response (VDR) in Central Luzon. New
Zealand forces were present along with troops from 11
other ASEAN and Pacific countries. Although billed by the
ASEAN Secretariat as a civilian-led, military
supported disaster relief training exercise, there
are some grounds for concern that the exercise may also
support the United States regional
security agenda and have a secondary aim of
improving interoperability among the participating
nations. ARF set up as a forum for security dialogue in
the Asia-Pacific and has 27 member countries, but this
has been its first field exercise since its establishment
in 1994.
The ARF is not a defence pact, but is beginning to look
as though it could develop into one. The puzzling thing
is that the Philippines does not have a Visiting Forces
Agreement with any other country apart from the US, so
should not take part in an overt multi-country military
exercise, while New Zealand is usually left off the list
for exercises with the US military because of the
anti-nuclear standoff (a Philippine-Australian Status
of Visiting Forces Agreement has been officially
submitted to the Philippine Senate. Ed.). As the
people of the Philippines strive to protect their
sovereignty and resist being drawn deeper into supporting
US global strategy, there is an important role for New
Zealand, but it is not a military one. What we need
instead are close ties based on the promotion of peace
and demilitarisation, justice and human rights.
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