Militant group hits plan to turn Oyster Bay into mini-naval base

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MANILA, Philippines – Militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Thursday slammed the plan of the US government and the Aquino administration to transform Oyster Bay into a mini-naval base.

Pamalakaya vice chairperson Salvador France said the plan to convert Oyster Bay, located 160 kilometers from the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), “constitutes a joint Washington-Manila crime against national sovereignty and wholesale destruction of natural resources and marine environment in the name of US war of aggression in East Asia and the Pacific.”

In a wire report, Commodore Joseph Rostum Pena, Commodore Joseph Rostum Pena, western navy chief, said that the Oyster Bay will be a “mini-Subic.”

France also called the attention of senators to be “extra vigilant” on the plan to develop Oyster Bay into a major naval base, hinting that the construction is in preparation for the signing of framework agreement on the increased rotational presence of American forces here.

“The Philippine Senate, the ratifying authority of any PH-US military agreement in the country, is completely ignored here and the new military pact between the master and the puppet is secretly being finalized by Washington military chiefs and their grand slaves in Malacanang,” said France.

The Philippines is working on an agreement with the United States to allow visiting American forces, ships and aircraft temporary access to more of its military camps to allow for a larger number of joint military exercises than are currently staged each year.