Philippine People Protest Against Joint Exercises with US

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 25, 2002

Philippine People Protest Against Joint Exercises with US

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Protesters against Philippine-US joint military exercises would launch a coordinated "air, sea, andland" protest action on July 25-31 against the planned expansion and extension of the war exercises in the country.

The activity, dubbed "A Nationwide Journey for Sovereignty and Peace," would be the first inter-island protest action involving participants from all over the Philippines, the Philippine Daily Inquirer online news reported Thursday.

"We will go around the country to expose the truth about the Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement (MLSA) which is a treaty oftreason, and in protest of the mendicant, anti-Filipino position of the (Macapagal) Arroyo government," said Bayans secretary-general Teodoro Casino in a statement.

The draft MLSA drawn by the Philippine and US military earlier this year, will allow logistics facilities on Philippine territoryfor US vessels and aircraft when they come for training exercises.It will also set the guidelines as what weapons would be allowed into the Philippines as well as parameters on troop replacement.

Participants to the nation-wide protest will board ships, buses,jeeps and planes as they make their way to Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines where they will hold rallies in front of the Southern Command headquarters on July 30 and 31 with the International Solidarity Mission's foreign and local delegates.

Most of the over 1,000 US troops will leave Zamboanga and nearby Basilan city before July 31 when the half-year-long joint exercises with Filipino soldiers in the southern Philippines end.

Some other US troops are still holding short-term exercises in other parts of the Philippines.

The rally at Zamboanga will "put a symbolical period to the exercises and stress opposition to any extension or expansion of the war games," Casino said.

The Philippine government has said more joint exercises betweenthe two countries' troops will be held within the year.

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