By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
A call for an inquiry into the activities of a U.S. special forces group during its time in the southern Philippines was lodged with congress Monday.
Lawmaker Terry Ridon is calling for an investigation into the deaths of 17 U.S. personnel attached to the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, known by the acronym JSOTF-P, over a 13 year period.
While most of the deaths have been explained – 10 died in a helicopter crash – three of the deaths are listed by the U.S. Defense Department as due to “non-combat-related” or “non-hostile-related” incidents.
Ridon called on the House of Representatives Committee on National Defense to “conduct an investigation… on the performance and activities of the JSOTF-P, a special forces program of the United States which ran from 2002 until 2015, that allowed US troops to participate in combat operations, build structures, preposition equipment, etc, despite clear prohibitions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.”
At its peak, the unit, based in Zamboanga City, Mindanao, numbered up to 600 troops tasked, according to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, with a “strictly non-combat role to defeat terrorists, eliminate safe havens and create the conditions necessary for peace, stability and prosperity in the southern Philippines.”
The group was formally deactivated last week.
In the resolution, Ridon said “no sufficient information” had been released about the 17 deaths, which “casts a shadow of doubt on the real circumstances of their deaths and also fuels allegations that they might have indeed participated in actual combat operations.”
Ridon added: “If these U.S. servicemen died in combat in Mindanao, then we are looking at cases of serious infringement of our sovereignty.”
U.S. military activity is a divisive issue in the Philippines, a former U.S. colony. There are a number of bases on the islands and joint exercises are regularly conducted.
