Cookie Diokno was chair of the Regional Council for Human Rights in Asia and secretary general of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), a nationwide network of human rights lawyers in the Philippines, when this article appeared. She was also a leader in the Anti-Bases Coalition (ABC), an organization working for the removal of the U.S. bases--Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Force Base--from the Philippines.
The ABC was founded by her father, Jose Diokno, a well-known and widely respected senator and Philippine nationalist who died last year of cancer. Several years ago Cookie Diokno had planned to travel abroad but was denied a passport by the Philippine government; her father suggested that she work with him for awhile. "That 'awhile' lasted 14 years," she says.
Cookie Diokno was interviewed by Jim Wallis in Manila.
--The Editors
Jim Wallis: Tell us about the anti-bases campaign.
Cookie Diokno: Our campaign against the bases is based on the concept of human rights. We believe that we, as a nation, like every other nation, possess five fundamental rights. These are not only legal rights, but moral rights as well.
Our first fundamental right is to survive as people--to be able to preserve the nature and the bounty which are endowed in us. Unfortunately, because of the presence of the bases, we cannot even ensure this right to survival.
We are absolutely certain that there are stored nuclear weapons on the bases. And these nuclear weapons would cause tremendous destruction, not only to Filipino lives, but also to our environment. Also, these bases don't serve to protect us. They actually are magnets for attack by enemies of the United States, who are not our enemies. We Filipinos have no enemies; as a people, we maintain diplomatic relations with everyone.
Our second right is that of freedom. But because of the bases, many of our government policies are influenced to such an extent that we have lost a lot of our basic freedoms.
We can't forget that it was the American government that supported Marcos. It provided arms and tremendous amounts of money to prop up a dictatorship that bred torture, disappearances, extra-legal executions, murders, and massacres. The bases are here to protect American economic and security interests--all to the detriment of the Filipinos.
Our third right is our right to sovereignty. These bases were imposed on us; we never wanted them. In 1935, when we were a colony of the United States fighting for our independence, the Independence Act declaring no to the bases was incorporated into our constitution; our people voted overwhelmingly in favor of it.
We were invaded by Japan when we were a protectorate of the United States, only hours after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. When it became clear that the Americans were winning the war, the American Congress passed several resolutions and made it very, very clear that we would not be granted independence unless we agreed to the presence of the bases.
Our next right is our freedom to develop and enhance our own culture. You've been to Olongapo [site of Subic Naval Base]; you have seen what is there: more than 16,000 registered hospitality girls, 7,000 in Angeles [site of Clark Air Force Base], children born and sold every day. There is complete degradation--no sense of being human, and no sense of being Filipino. The greatest dream is the American dream--to go live a life in the U.S. There's no appreciation of a Filipino soul or a Filipino identity.
Unfortunately--and this is from years of colonization--most of us Filipinos have not shed our second skin--the American skin. We still maintain an attitude that what is American is better than what is Filipino. To be able to go forward, we must remove whatever vestiges of colonialism exist here; and the bases are clearly one sign of that.
Our final right is our right to develop for the benefit of all Filipinos, not only for some--and for the benefit, first and foremost, of Filipinos, and not for foreigners. A lot of ado is made about how much the American bases contribute to the economy. I've looked at the figures, and it's very clear that not one contribution goes into investment in the country. The presence of the bases has, in fact, reduced our men, women, and children to commodity items for sale to the highest bidder.
In addition, because the bases are here to protect American multi-national and transnational interests, our workers are paid very, very cheaply. They are often exploited because of their color. There is no way we can ever develop this country for our benefit if we continue to allow the bases to stay. They will be here to propagate the status quo, and the status quo is very unjust.
What role do you think the bases have in terms of U.S. involvement in counterinsurgency?
I have no direct evidence yet, although there have been several sightings of American servicemen off the bases in insurgency areas, and American planes have been flying over insurgency areas. Filipino planes that are involved in bombing operations all over the countryside are based at Clark [Air Force Base]. And an article which came out in the papers here reported that one of the leaders of a vigilante group claims that American servicemen are training him and his men and giving them arms.
It's rather difficult to find hard evidence. But I firmly believe there are linkages between the intelligence community of the American government and the loyalist forces of Mr. Marcos. And the loyalist forces have been responsible for several coup attempts here.
But I think the role the Americans play is also more insidious, more subtle. It is a play on the Filipino mind. We are being drawn into the East-West conflict, into the democracy-versus-communism thing. A lot of it is a propaganda attempt to manipulate our thoughts, to make us believe that there are certain causes which are communist causes. Unfortunately, the bases issue is one of those.
I've heard stories about harassment and threats and violence against people in the anti-bases campaign. What's happening?
I think it's a sign of our effectiveness to a certain extent that we are now subject to violence. Just last March--and I really feel very bad about this--we asked a 19- and a 21-year-old boy to put up posters for us in the streets. The posters were very simple--picturing a little boy pushing a push cart, and in the push cart were the bases, and the posters said, "Junk the Bases."
These two boys were arrested by elements of the Capital Regional Command, which is an intelligence unit under the military. They were brought inside the presidential palace, held there for two nights and two days, badly beaten, tortured, deprived of their basic rights, made to drink water from the toilet, given only teaspoonfuls of garlic, forced to walk around hand-cuffed to each other.
Then they were brought to a squatter area. Soldiers took a very sharp implement--we believe it was the tool used by a shoemaker to cut a sole of leather--and chopped them from one end to the other. One boy died, 21-year-old Rey Francisco.
When the other boy was brought to the hospital, he was clinically dead. His head was almost severed from his body. It's really a miracle that now he's walking and he's well.
Others have been arrested. Abductions have been attempted against several anti-bases leaders and even ordinary activists. A lot of anti-bases activists are labeled communists and put under surveillance. I expect it to get even worse.
What do you have to say to Americans, particularly American church people, about this question of the bases?
I would like to ask the people of the United States to pressure the U.S. government to please remove all foreign military bases, not only from the Philippines but from other countries as well. The effects on our people have been terrible, and I expect them to get worse. And I would imagine that the effects of U.S. militarism and militarization of the world also have tremendous effects on the American public, on the average American citizen.
What we are asking for is a certain respect and a certain faith. While we appreciate all the concern that we receive, we need others to let us live our own lives. If we make mistakes, fine. Let us pay for it. Let us rule ourselves. Let us be ourselves. Let us emerge a Filipino nation.
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