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US troops joined combat in Mindanao, says Navy whistleblower


American troops stationed in the southern Philippines have been active in combat operations with the Philippine military, the former Navy officer who exposed irregularities in the use of funds for the yearly joint RP-US military exercises said on Wednesday. Lt. Senior Grade Nancy Gadian, whistleblower on an alleged fund mess in the RP-US Balikatan exercises in 2007, said in a press conference that US soldiers have joined Philippine troops in actual combat against Muslim rebels. “During encounters in the actual terrain, embedded po yung sundalong Amerikano (the American soldiers were embedded in local units)," she said. Gadian, who was head of Civil Military Operations Task Group of Balikatan in 2007, also said that about 500 US soldiers were assigned in Mindanao as "the first line of defense against the enemy." She added that US troops usually engaged in operations in Mindanao without informing heads of the Philippine military in the area. Philippine forces are fighting the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and other armed groups in Sulu. The press conference was held ahead of an inquiry by the Senate oversight committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) into the activities of US troops in the Philippines. Gadian was among the resource persons invited to the hearing. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) declined to comment, saying Gadian’s charges would be answered in the Senate hearing scheduled on Thursday. Overstaying Americans The presence of US troops in the country has been recently under fire following US Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ decision to keep a counterinsurgency force of 600 soldiers in the country, despite pressures to reassign the troops to other countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, where their presence is more needed. Signed during the Estrada administration, the VFA allows US troops to come to the Philippines for military training exercises — dubbed Balikatan exercises — with their local counterparts. The US military left the country in late 1992 after the Philippine Senate rejected a treaty that sought to extend their lease of Subic Naval Base in Olongapo. In the press conference, Gadian said American troops are stationed in Mindanao even without any Balikatan exercises going on, and that the Philippine government does not monitor the deployment and movement of these troops in the country's southern region. “Madalas po nagkakaroon ng programs or projects 'yung mga Amerikano doon sa Mindanao nang hindi nila pinapaalam doon sa pamunuan ng Southern Command. Dumidiretso po sila sa area kung saan nila gusto (Americans in Mindanao usually have programs or projects which they do not tell the leadership of the Southern Command. They just go to areas where they want to go)," she said. Gadian earlier this year exposed the alleged misuse of the P42-million fund allotted for the joint military exercises between the Philippines and the US by high ranking military officials. Permanent structures In her affidavit, Gadian also accused the US military of building permanent structures in different military camps in the country. She said US forces have established "permanent" and "continuous" presence in Zamboanga, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi in the south. She added that the Philippine military has no access to the camps built by the US soldiers in these areas since they are "fenced off by barbed wires and guarded by US Marines." Gadian likewise said these structures are indications the US troops had no intention of leaving the country, which is a violation of the Philippine Constitution. Article XVII, Section 25 of the 1987 Constitution prohibits the presence of foreign military bases, troops or facilities in the country except “under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate." 'High-handed, imperious conduct' The ex-Navy official also complained of the "arrogant" behavior of many US military officers toward Filipinos. "They are not calling us by our names. Masakit pong isipin 'yun kasi hindi naman po ako aso para tawagin basta-basta through their mere fingers (The thought of them calling us like dogs through their mere fingers is really painful)," she said in the press conference. Gadian also observed some US military men bringing Filipino women prostitutes to different areas in the camp. "On the whole, their assertions of power and authority appear like they rule over us and the country," she said in her affidavit. - GMANews.TV

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