UP Publications Online
Philippine Collegian
Diliman UPDate
UP Newsletter Online

Index of issues

UP System Homepage | UP Webmail | Diskusyon sa UP

Toxic Legacy in the former US bases
Jo Lontoc

“I can recall, as commanding officer of an aircraft carrier in 1970, being closely monitored in US ports to insure proper control and disposal of waste material. This increased caution was not evident to me here in Subic Bay in 1971 where ships, our aircraft and our industrial facilities were spewing polluted materials into the air, water and soil with no regard for the short-term or long-term effects… When one adds the long-term effects of the discharge of untreated sewage, leakage and escape of PCB from electrical generators, it is beyond doubt that Subic Bay is contaminated in many ways which threaten the long-term health and safety of local residents.”

—Admiral Eugene Carrol Jr., retired, US Navy, former Commander of US Aircraft Carrier Midway in “US Military Bases and the Environment,” 1996 International Forum on US Military Toxics and Bases Clean-up, Manila. Sponsored by People’s Task Force on Bases Clean-up & Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition.

Subic Bay is a deep-water harbor, formed by volcanic activity. Its
development as a naval station was begun as early as 1884 by the Spaniards. In 1904 America made it a naval reservation and built a ship repair facility there in 1906. At the height of its operation by US Navy, it was the largest naval supply depot in the world, handling 1 million barrels of fuel each month. It also served as a major ship repair facility for all US combat ships in the Asian region.1

The Bay is fed by six rivers which go through the Base and Olongapo City. During storms, bay waters bearing whatever has been dumped to it rise causing the rivers to swell upstream and flood riverside communities.
Spread across Pampanga and Tarlac, Clark Air Base is a land-trapped area about the size of Singapore. It is reputed to be the largest US military installation in Asia. Clark had the capacity to store petroleum, oil and lubricants of 25 million gallons and a 200,000 square meter storage space for ammunition for the US Air Force.2

For almost a century the bases have been the hub of American military operations in Asia, serving as fueling, maintenance, training and communications stations. Connecting the two bases is a 40-kilometer underground fuel pipeline, which traverses rugged mountainous areas, farms and heavily populated towns and cities.

With the Senate’s rejection of a new bases treaty, the US armed forces pulled out of the two bases in 1992 coinciding with the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Devastated by the eruption, some residents of Pampanga were given temporary shelters at a 12-hectare site at the Clark Air Base Communications Center or Cabcom. From 1991 to 1999, an estimated 20,000 families were resettled temporarily in Cabcom. The families stayed there for three to five years.

After the pull-out of American personnel from the military bases in Subic Bay, it was noticed that there was high incidence of illnesses among the residents living in and around rivers and tributaries into and out of the naval base. Meanwhile, at Cabcom, the settlers noted an odd taste and oily sheen in their drinking water. Then they began to get sick.

Like all human beings, the residents of these communities needed water. The river tributaries of Subic Bay provided the people with a place to bathe, swim, and play in, a source of livelihood, and groundwater. In Cabcom, 203 pump wells were dug to supply the water for the settlers. They settlers did not know they were located on what used to be a motor pool, a place where the Americans’ engines were serviced.

On 18 August 2000, hundreds of residents of Clark and Subic simultaneously filed a suit against the US and Philippine governments before the Angeles and Olongapo City regional trial courts. Most of the plaintiffs lived in areas beside the rivers of Subic Bay and the resettlement area in Clark. Backed by scientific studies of both international and local experts, they blamed the two governments for the misery wrought upon them by toxic wastes. By this time, the People’s Task Force for Bases Clean-up had documented 272 cases of toxic waste victims. Twenty-four children 2-14 years old suffered from neurological disorders, 43 had various heart ailments, at least 7 with leukemia, 14 others with leukemia symptoms, 40 had various types of cancer, 30 had skin disorders, 24 had various kidney problems, 27 had various lung or respiratory problems, 7 had undetermined stomach problems, 6 had several spontaneous abortions, 4 had still-births, 10 suffered deaths of unknown causes, 2 had liver cancer. Their medical condition was certified by medical practitioners from the Philippine General Hospital and other government health institutions and agencies.3
The toxic wastes did not strike through water alone. According to studies, water, air and soil-borne toxic materials were present in dangerous amounts at both Clark and Subic bases.

The study that triggered other studies was ironically made by the US government itself. In 1992, the US General Accounting Office reported contaminated sites in Clark and Subic. The report said that US did not comply with its own environmental laws in the operation of the bases in the Philippines. It acknowledged that the cost of the clean-up could approach Superfund proportions. Following the GAO report were studies done by:
1. the World Health Organization (WHO), which identified water pollutants present in the bases in 1993;
2. the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) in 1995, which found oil and grease in water samples taken from wells in Clark;
3. Canadian epidemiologist Rosalie Bertell, which in 1998 noted “startlingly high” levels of kidney diseases in 13 communities around Clark;
4. Woodward-Clyde in 1996, which was commissioned by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority;
5. Weston International, commissioned by the Clark Development Authority, which identified 22 contaminated sites in Clark in 1997;
6. the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, which in 1999 started supporting the victims.

The studies identified 27 contaminated sites at Clark and 19 at Subic. The WHO Mission Report, particularly, said that landfills on site were used for dumping all kinds of waste, including toxic and hazardous waste materials; and that industrial waste waters, untreated sewage and polluted storm water drains were all directly discharged to Subic Bay, mostly without treatment. They revealed that heavy metals and contaminants ranging from oil and petroleum lubricants, pesticides such as aldrin, dieldrin and DDT to PCBs, lead, mercury, arsenic, asbestos and others were found in various levels exceeding Philippine National Standards.4 The study made by Woodward-Clyde International noted that the pipeline connecting the two bases is a “potential source of leaks and spills.”

These studies give credence to earlier reports, including that of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in 1992, which featured a US Navy veteran from Subic who claimed that the Navy incessantly produced industrial toxic chemicals and discarded them without regard. He recalled how the US routinely flushed and left behind a trail of waste and toxic materials in the process of ship repair (see quote in introduction).
According to the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, 1985-1986, mercury has been known to cause birth defects such as several cerebral palsy, mental retardation, spontaneous abortion, neurological effects, among others. According to the People’s Task Force on Bases Clean-up, mercury was detected in some of the sediments of Subic Bay. Benzene, toluene, and xylene are all found in gasoline especially jet fuel, industrial solvents, degreasers, adhesives, explosives, asphalt, pesticides, dyes, paint remover, and vehicle emissions. Benzene causes leukemia, aplastic anemia, chromosomal aberrations and bone marrow defects. Toluene damages the kidney and liver and destroys the fetus. Xylene destroys the kidney and causes central nervous system disorder.

Greenpeace Toxics Patrol documented the existence of a transformer in Mabalacat containing PCB, which had been internationally banned for any new use by OECD countries in 1987. Greenpeace reported that the transformer, which had already contaminated surrounding soil, was disassembled and drained by residents in February 2000 without appropriate protective gear (see photo). PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl), used in power transformers, has immediate and long-term effects on health and environment in both small and high concentrations. It interferes with reproduction, decreased birth weight, reduced head circumference, and premature birth, decreased intellectual performance, suppresses the immune system and induces liver enzymes. Chronic exposure causes skin disorders, promotes tumors in experimental animals and may be carcinogenic in humans.5

These are just few of the toxic materials found in harmful amounts in several sites at the former US bases.

Today, Greenpeace reports more and more people are getting sick and the death toll continues to rise. Three of the moret recent casualties were a 7-year-old from Subic, a retired former base worker, and a settler in Clark.6
Rogelio Palo was an Amerasian boy who died of leukemia at age 7 in Olongapo City on the eve of Filipino-American Friendship Day of 2000. When Rogel’s mother was pregnant with him, she lived in a house along Sta. Rita River, where water flowed from former base dumpsites upstream. Unable to make the biological father, a US serviceman in Subic Naval Base, recognize the baby, she gave Rogel up to the care of Rudy and Rose Palo. The couple, being childless, loved Rogel like he was their own. Rogel started showing signs of leukemia when he was three. Four years later he passed away.

Last June, Alfonso Napalan, 71, died of asbestosis in Olongapo City. He was among the thousands of base workers who served in the Ship Repair Facility in Subic for years. Apparently, these workers were not informed of the harm that asbestos could do to their health. Banking on their faithful service record with the US naval base, they are now awaiting medical assistance from the US government.

At Clark, in Madapdap Resettlement Village, Mabalacat, Pampanga, Honorio Lopez, 40, died of multiple cancer. He left nine children and wife Rebecca. Before his death the doctors at PGH had told the family: “Ang lason sa kanyang katawan ay kumalat na at sinira ang kanyang internal organs.” NGO workers had reported how fluid toxins flowed from lesions all over his body.

The victims claimed that when they demanded for the clean-up of the former bases and the compensation for their deaths and illnesses, both the US and the Philippine governments refused and denied their liability. According to the US, the 1947 Military Bases Agreement frees the US from any legal obligation to restore the bases into their former conditions. The findings made by the US GAO were considered moot with the rejection of a new treaty. The Philippines, they say, also agreed to waive its claim for compensation or damages in exchange for owning the structures left by the US Air Force and Navy in Clark and Subic. The Philippine government, on the other hand, maintains the position that Philippine courts have no jurisdiction over the US government. Furthernmore, the victims claimed neither government had extended any medical assistance or other forms of assistance to the toxic waste victims and had made any concrete move to clean up the former US bases, forcing them to file the court case.

The cases7 demand that the Philippine government 1) conduct a new study to determine the present extent of toxic contamination, the cost of arresting and cleaning it; 2) render medical and financial aid to the victims; 3) declare the bases as not suitable for human habitation and evacuate people staying on the contaminated sites; 4) compel the US government to make reparation for the contamination; 5) clean up the bases. The plaintiffs from Subic demand that the Philippine government pay them a total of P3.5 million in actual damages, P12.5 billion in moral damages, and P12.5 billion in exemplary damages; the Clark plaintiffs demand P25.2 million in actual damages, P12.5 billion in moral damages, and P12.5 billion in exemplary damages.

The plaintiffs demand the US government conduct a comprehensive clean-up of the bases and surrounding areas as well as, to the plaintiffs from Subic, pay $3.5 million in actual damages, $25 billion in moral damages, and $25 billion in exemplary damages; and to the plaintiffs from Clark $25.2 million in actual damages, $25 billion in moral damages, and $25 billion in exemplary damages.

The recent visit of Collin Powell to the Philippines and his talk with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and other Malacañang officials was an opportunity for both governments to re-consider at the level of top management their stand on the issue, which can be described as having been at best lackadaisical and noncommittal. However, Malacañang reports indicate that the President and Powell dealt more at length with the issue of global terrorism and Abu Sayyaf, Philippine tuna export to the US, treatment of Filipino deportees, lifting of negative US travel advisory on the Philippines, the US Millennium Challenge Account, and Malacañang’s invitation for George Bush to visit. Apparently, the toxic waste issue was lumped with other concerns which were only hastily reviewed. These included the possible delisting of the Philippines from the Financial Action Task Force on the anti-money laundering list, the issues of the Amerasians in the country and the possible recruitment of Filipinos in the US Navy, issues on air services and independent power producers (IPP) and the World War II veteran benefits. 8 Ironically, as a young captain during the Vietnam War, Powell had himself been in Subic and Clark.9

Sources:
“Welfredo Mesiano, et al. vs. the USA Department of Defense, et al.”; “Virginia Guevarra, et al. vs. the USA Department of Defense, et al.;” “US Toxic Wastes in the Philippines”; “The Environmental Impacts of Joint Military Exercises and Military Port Visits” by the People’s Task Force on Bases Clean-up and Arc Ecology, San Francisco; “RP-US Frenship Daw?” by PTFBC; “Chronology of Events Related to the Struggle for Environmental Justice at the Former Bases in the Philippines”; “Frequently Asked Questions About the Toxic Contamination Found at Clark and Subic: A Brief Primer” by PTFBC, as of July 1999; “Leukemia and Defective Fetus: Environmental Time Bombs Threaten Clark and Subic” at www.yonip.com
Greenpeace Philippines “Toxic Alert” handouts: “US Toxic Legacies: Toxic Hotspots in Clark and Subic”; “Use and Effects of PCBs”; “United States Toxic Legacy Continues”; “Why the US Airforce Mabalacat Transformer is Hazardous Waste”; “US threatens to block treaty on toxic pollutants”.
“Macapagal gets no firm Powell stand on ‘requests’, 4 August 2002, at www.inq7.net
“GMA-Powell discuss RP-US concerns”, 3 August 2002; “Powell vows enduring U.S. partnership, support to RP”, 3 August 2002, at http://www.op.gov.ph/news

(Endnotes)
1 “Virginia Guevarra, et al. vs. USA Department of Defense, et al.” at http://www.yonip.com/YONIP/Articles/Clark.html
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 “US toxic wastes in the Philippines” at http://yonip.com/toxicwaste/victims.html
5 “Virginia Guevarra, et al….”, Ibid.
6 The stories of the three are taken from “RP-US Frenship daw?”, 3 July 2002, at http://64.176.201.250/toxicwaste/friendship.html
7 “Virginia Guevarra, et al….”, loc. cit., and “Wilfredo Mesiano, et al. vs. USA Department of Defense, et al.” at http://www.yonip.com/YONIP/Articles/Subic.htm
8 “GMA-Powell discuss RP-US concerns”, 3 August 2002, at http://www.op.gov.ph/news.asp?newsid=1748
9 “Powell vows enduring U.S. partnership, support to RP”, 3 August 2002, at http://www.op.gov.ph/news.asp?newsid=1747

FORUM Online Homepage |diskusyon | balita | opinyon | tampok

Copyright © 2001 The UP System Information Office
All Rights Reserved.
Updated September 25, 2002
Comments and Feedback

Search the web with

Search worldwide web Search google.com Search up.edu.ph