Saturday, July 21, 2004 Villagers hit exercises in areas outside camp By Jeffrey M. Tupas
CARMEN, North Cotabato -- Eight Muslim villages are said to be the sites of the joint US-RP military exercises, contrary to earlier reports that it will be strictly confined in a military camp, a youth group said Tuesday.
Akmad Magid, chair of the local youth group called United Youth for Peace and Development, said most of the residents of Barangay Manarapan have already planned to flee their homes upon arrival of the US soldiers.
Manarapan, one of the highly devastated villages in Carmen during the all-out-war policy of former President Joseph Estrada against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is said to be another area where US soldiers will "enter" during the exercises that is set to start on July 26.
These developments irked some residents of the identified villages, some of them even warned that they will evacuate the moment they see American troops enter their villages.
Col. Isagani Cachuela, chief of the Army's 602nd Infantry Brigade, insisted there was no truth to reports about making the eight villages as venue of the exercises.
He said the exercises would be strictly confined inside the camp.
He, however, admitted that some villages of Carmen, including Manarapan, will be used as venues of the exercises' humanitarian mission component.
Other areas identified were Nasapian, Kibayaw, Rancho, Kibinis, Katanayanan, Ugalingan, and Limbalod.
These villages are all part of what the government called as Limbalod Complex.
The complex was also one of the sites of many conflicts before.
Few years ago, North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piņol said the MILF had established a mayhem government inside the complex.
It is also where the controversial Malitubog-Maridagao irrigation project is located.
US soldiers started to arrive Monday and at least 10 6x6 military vehicles also arrived carrying Filipino troops from the nearby town of Arakan.
Cachuela said American soldiers who are part of an "advance team" also arrived in Carmen since Monday.
"They are part of the security preparations... more administrative," Cachuela said, refusing to give more details for security purposes.
Villagers are apprehensive over the joint military exercises saying it could lead into a war between the MILF and the soldiers, as most of the outskirt villages of Carmen are identified as MILF areas.
Manarapan village chief Guinaed Dalid said American soldiers visited his village at least twice in June and he was told that the village would be the venue of a humanitarian mission that includes the conduct of civic action and delivery of health services.
The American soldiers said they like Manarapan because it is passable, Dalid said.
Rayma Katog, a resident of Kibayaw, said she might stop from going to school should her village be "encroached" by the US and RP soldiers.
She said they will have a hard time studying since they are afraid of the American soldiers, Katog said.
The exercises have two components, military training and humanitarian mission.
Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization based in General Santos City said the presence of US soldiers will increase prostitution activities in the city.
"This (Balikatan) is an instrument for the proliferation of the number of prostituted women and children," said Lalaine Malapit, area coordinator for General Santos of the Talikala Foundation, Inc.
Malapit claimed their office in Davao City documented 18 women, aged 18 to 21, who were allegedly recruited as house helps and waitresses for the US troops during the conduct of Balikatan exercises in Zamboanga City.
But she said the women did not perform as house helps and waitresses but ended up as entertainers for the US troops.
"It might happen in General Santos City and the number of present prostituted women and children will increase," she added.
General Santos City mayor Pedro Acharon Jr. confirmed last week that the US troops participating in the Balikatan exercises would be using the airport facilities of the city.
He said the foreign troops might stay in the city for their rest and recreation activities.
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