Congress probe of Pag-asa port plan urged

LUCENA CITY—A leftist fisherfolk alliance has urged Congress to investigate an administration plan to build a pier on a disputed island in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“The plan is obvious and clear. The Philippine government will establish a mini-naval base in West Philippine Sea to accommodate thousands of US troops doing fast forward deployment rotations in Asia and the Pacific,” said Pamalakaya leader Fernando Hicap.

“It was not only meant to bully and provoke China, Washington’s biggest economic and military competitor, but also to solidify US hegemonic control of the region,” Hicap said in a statement without elaboration.

Hicap urged Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to instruct the committees on defense and on foreign affairs of both chambers to immediately undertake either a joint or separate inquiries into the reported planned seaport on Pag-asa Island.

He said the planned port would be used in the annual Philippine-US military exercises.

“The country’s controlled areas in the Spratlys are slowly but surely being  transformed into new US mini-naval bases with complete amenities including rest and recreation facilities for Washington troops. We have a new Okinawa on the rise,” said Pamalakaya vice chairman Salvador France.

France said that the next joint US-Philippine military exercise in Palawan and the rest of Luzon scheduled for April 16-27 was a preparatory stage for the establishment of mini-naval bases all over the country that would cater to US troops on short- and long-term visits to the Philippines. He did not say what the basis of this assertion was.