The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has firmly opposed a proposal by United States lawmakers to build an ammunition manufacturing and storage facility at the former American naval base in Subic.
In an interview, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap urged the public, as well as the legislators, to reject the military installation that will “make us a target of US rival countries that posed potential threat to the national security and to the livelihood of fisherfolk.”
“We have already removed US military bases from our soil, we are concerned that their renewed presence is aimed at using the Philippines as a strategic location for provocative actions against China,” Hicap said.
“We don’t want to be caught in the middle of a war between the US and its rivals, especially since we know that it will also cause great harm to the country’s fisheries,” he added.
Hicap added the fishing community would be threatened “because of the toxic chemical wastes that the ammo and arms factory will discharge into the water.”
On Monday, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro announced the possibility of hosting an American ammunition plant but said the Philippine government has yet to receive a formal proposal.
He noted that such a development could be beneficial to the Philippines, which is currently at the receiving end of China’s aggression due to Beijing’s expansionist ambitions.
“Any production entity which would be of benefit to the Philippines, not only in terms of our resilience, but improving, giving employment, and other technological transfers, that might be encouraged,” he said in a press briefing at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
Teodoro pointed out that the Philippines and the United States are “like-minded and treaty partners”.
Recently, US lawmakers proposed the establishment of a joint ammunition manufacturing and storage facility in the Philippines.
The plan aims to address the lack of forward-staged ammunition manufacturing in the Indo-Pacific region, amid rising tensions in the South China Sea between China, the Philippines, and the US.
Subic Bay was the site of the US’ largest overseas naval facility until Washington withdrew from its military bases in the Philippines in 1991.
