U.S. troops pack up amid protests

Most of the 1,000 U.S. troops provided training and advice for Filipino soldiers will leave the country today amid protest rallies and accusations of human rights violations, following reports that an American soldier shot a suspected Abu Sayyaf member last week.

Doubts were raised about the success of the six-month U.S.-Philippine wargames because their target, the hostage-taking Abu Sayyaf group, has not been totally eradicated in the southern Philippines.

Yesterday, the withdrawing troops dismantled two giant Chinook helicopters, the parts of which were packed into container vans, a definite sign that the joint anti-terror mission has ended.

The U.S. soldiers also took away and kept in container vans the high-tech equipment and modern spy gadgets which the Filipino soldiers used earlier in tracking down the Abu Sayyaf fighters.

Earlier, President Gloria Arroyo said the high-tech equipment should be left behind and their cost should be deducted from the $ 55 million foreign military funding (FMF) which the U.S. congress recently approved for the Philippine armed forces.

The modern spy technology helped Filipino soldiers rescue U.S. Christian missionary, Gracia Burnham, in Zamboanga del Norte on June 7. The operation, however, resulted in the death of her husband, Martin, and a Filipina nurse, Ediborah Yap.

Military authorities stepped up security in and around the military base in preparation for the departure ceremony, which will be attended by high-ranking military officials.

U.S. military engineers formally turned over access roads, bridges, an airstrip, a port, and a 69-kilometre-long road linking Lamitan and Maluso towns in Basilan province, making the major Abu Sayyaf stronghold accessible to U.S. and Filipino forces.

Meanwhile, Senator Aquilino Pimentel called for the investigation of a certain U.S. serviceman Reginald Lay (earlier identified as Reggie Lane) who reportedly shot at Buyongbuyong Isnijal in his house in Tuburan, Basilan, on July 24.

Erring American soldiers engaged in joint military exercises in the Philippines are not immune from suit since they are not diplomats, explained Justice Secretary Hernando Perez.

Some 1,000 anti-U.S. protesters were not allowed to go near the southern command during a rally in Zamboanga City yesterday. There was a standoff between the police and the protesters.

Local government officials said the protesters did not have a permit to hold rallies. Steel barricades were erected on the major thoroughfare leading to the southern command.

Joining the protesters were 80 foreign and local members of the International Solidarity Mission (IMS), which reported the shooting of a suspected Abu Sayyaf member last week.

The IMS went to several villages in Basilan and Zamboanga City (all in the southern Philippines) and in Cebu City, central Philippines, to get statements from civilians on the effects of the wargames on their lives.

Five people were injured during a clash between the pro and anti-U.S. groups late on Monday.

Top Abu Sayyaf leaders, however, remain free. Of the five most wanted Abu Sayyaf men with a $1 million price each on their heads, only Abu Sayyaf spokesman, Abu Sabaya, was declared dead after a clash with government troops in the Sulu Sea on June 21. His body, however, has not been recovered.

But the war-games have improved the operational capabilities of the armed forces.
Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Teodosio, co director of the joint war-games, said: "The war games have given them the confidence and renewed resilience in combating terrorism."