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Philippines: Witness to the New "Vietnam"

By Barry Romo

Philippines—Col. James Rowe, a decorated Vietnam Veteran died here recently. He was shot in his 'bulletproof' car and killed instantly.

Unlike the return of the sailors from the Battleship Iowa accident or casualties from Persian Gulf, his body's arrival home was met by silence instead of by President Bush. Why was this author, former V.C. POW and head of the Joint United States Military Advisory Group met with singular indifference after it was confirmed his death was the work of Philippine insurgents?

Perhaps the answer lies on the island of Negros. Located in the south center of this Archipelagic nation, Negros has long had insurgent actions.

On April 18th elements of the NPA attacked an army outpost at Candoni, Negros, killing at least 9 soldiers and making off with their weapons. Three days alter the military attacked, beginning with an artillery bombardment and aerial and helicopter gunship assault, followed by an infantry "search and destroy" mission conducted by army scout rangers.

Civilians in this rural agricultural area were warned of the assault two days after it began.

According to Lt. Col. Recarido Evidente, Civil Relations Officer for the Third Infantry Division, the military operation was "necessary to wipe out the guerrillas" and so the area was declared as "no man's land".

At least 35,000 peasants were forcefully evacuated from the area into unsanitary, overcrowded detention centers in southern Negros Occidental. Taking with them what few belongings they could—including pigs and chickens—they were housed together without drinking water or sanitation.

Brig. Gen. Raymond Jarque, deputy commander of Negros island command justified the actions as "part of the war." "Evacuation must be part of the war or else it becomes an all-wormen's war."

While the military claims to have killed 41 NPA in combat, the Human Rights Alliance of Negros informed President Cory Aquino that government troops killed at least two civilians and tortured another:

Jesus Lahayfahay, 54, was shot dead in the back while lying on his farmhouse floor at close range.

They wounded a mother, Academia, and killed her 3 month old child in her arms as they sought shelter in a Protestant church.

They also tortured a farmer, Rico Cominade, 23, demanding the hiding place of weapons.

The evacuated civilians fared far worse than both the NPA and civilians left behind. More than 118 children and infants died from diseases caused by the overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions with the count still rising. For entertainment the military showed the refugees "The Killing Fields" at night.

Negros Gov. Daniel Lacson, Jr., was more concerned about the bad press coverage saying that the operations and evacuation were necessary and "a question of the survival of democracy." As for the evacuees complaints about housing he said he had been telling them "not to expect five-star hotel accommodations."

Cory Aquino, president and American "saint" has not stopped the evacuations or military operations. In a public relations ploy she sent her Health Secretary, Alfredo Bengzon to assess the displaced's needs but a bit more telling was her public talk to military officers at the height of the operation in which she called for "total war."

In Negros she got "total war."

Rowe's Job: Low Intensity Conflict

This brings us back to Col. Rowe, the body that President Bush Forgot to Remember. Well, Asian communism. His 5 years in a bamboo cage supposedly enabled him to learn more than anyone else and his escape after 5 years 'proved' he could outsmart them. He even made confidential films shown to military intelligence officers on the subject.

Rowe's final command, JUSMAG, is a permanent group of U.S. military advisors to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, part of the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Manila but paid for by the Philippine Government. It's been around 40 years, and Col. Edward Lansdale, until now, its most illustrious operative.

Its job is directing the counter-insurgency program.

As such Col. Rowe was a direct participant in and directed the development of low-intensity warfare in the Philippines. He is credited with the development of deep-penetration agents into the NPA, creation of armed anti-communist vigilante death squads such as Also Masa and evolving them into the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical units (CAFGU's). incidentally, these groups and Aquino have been criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International who note that rights abuses are worse now than under Marcos.

Bush did not forget to meet Rowe, Quayle wasn't playing golf and CNN wasn't off the air.

There's a war going on here in the Philippines. Its real and we're directing, supplying and paying for it. If it sounds like Vietnam, if it looks like Vietnam, if it bleeds like Vietnam, hide it before the public finds out. To admit Rowe's death is to admit the war.

The question is not just one of advisors directing the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The Philippines was our first colony. We waged a war here at the turn of the century that took more American lives then the Spanish-American War (and one million Philippine lives). We claimed the Philippines as our prize for winning the war.

We herded the population into concentration camps then, too. In fact, the Marine Corps commander was relieved of his command by Roosevelt after massacres became known. He had ordered all males over the age of ten on the Island of Samar killed.

It's our last prize in Asia. It is place from where the U.S. military can project itself. Not that its our last base, but it is the right place with a large population, natural resources, semi-skilled labor who speak English. And we own it. Not in the old sense of Kipling's India, but in the "new" of World Bank and IOU-neo-colonialism.

The Importance of the Bases

Which leads us to the bases—primarily those at Subic Bay and Clark Air Force Base.

While the 18,000 prostitutes aged 15 to 23 provided R&R, that's not the main draw. Subic is one of the best harbors in the world. It services the 7th Fleet, our largest with approximately 100 ships. Dry-docking and repairs cost 1/7th here what they would in the United States. The work force is skilled and can be expanded. The air bases can hit all of Asia (witness its use in Vietnam) and its Air Force radar station can monitor soviet nuclear capacity. It takes up more land than Singapore.

In war they would evaluate the damage of our nuclear strikes against the USSR. While we have other bases, like Midway, none offer the area, position or workforce of the Philippines. Besides being a tripwire for nuclear war with the USSR, they are also a tripwire for war with the New People's Army. Americans and insurgents have already engaged each other with deaths on both sides (at least 3 Americans). Unlike other bases the U.S. controls the security has the right to follow the NPA right into Manila if it wants to. The bases also can be used to escalate our armed counter-insurgency.

Marines were sent to "protect" Da Nang and army airborne units to "protect" Ben Hoa.

This place is no Grenada. There are 800 large islands with a population of 60 million. The insurgents have 30,000 armed men and women and carry out actions right in Manila. In many areas of the country side there is already dual power. Their infrastructure reaches into the schools, squatter communities, unions and even the church and the military.

Of course, comparisons to Vietnam don't totally fit. The NPA gets no outside help and is completely self-sufficient. There are no rear areas like North Vietnam or Cambodia.

And maybe the U.S. population was willing to buy an Asian war before Vietnam, but whose gonna buy "Hearts and Minds" in Manila?

Barry Romo is a National Coordinator for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He was an infantry and intelligence officer in the Army in Vietnam. He visited the Philippines in may and June of this year.