It’s sad and ironic that Filipinos, who fought so hard to get the U.S. bases out of their country because of the terrible social and environmental costs, would now be bidding on contracts for the military expansion on Guam, turning their past oppression into “experience” capital.

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http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100204-251193/Filipinos-to-bid-in-15-B-Guam-US-naval-project

Filipinos to bid in $15-B Guam US naval project

By Robert Gonzaga

Central Luzon Desk

First Posted 02:51:00 02/04/2010

OLONGAPO CITY—Filipino contractors will vie for lucrative contracts in a $15-billion US military expansion program in Guam that, this city’s mayor said, brought back memories of American military presence here.

Organizers said Filipino manpower and product suppliers had listed up to submit bids for contracts in Guam at the Annual Pacific Island Local Government (APILG) conference that this city would host on Feb. 18-21.

Mayor James Gordon Jr. said Filipino contractors would get to know the processes involved in bagging contracts in Guam at the APILG conference.

Dean Alegado, executive director of the APILG conference, said over 1,500 contractors had signed up for contractual bidding processes, which were earlier conducted in Washington, Honolulu and Guam.

“In those [bids and awards conferences], over 50 of the companies were Filipino-owned,” Alegado said.

“They were mostly contractors for manpower services. Hosting this conference is a major coup for Olongapo because it can provide opportunities for Filipino contractors from all over the country to meet important decision-makers (in the US military program),” he said.

It was “deja vu for all of us because this is exactly what happened when the US base began construction work here,” Gordon said.

The US military in Guam, he said, would need “lots of services that we can provide—and also products.”

Everything imported

“Everything is imported in Guam. For products that they don’t manufacture, maybe we can supply them,” Gordon said.

The Guam buildup project was spurred by the relocation there of the US naval base in Okinawa. It will require at least 20,000 workers, the Inquirer learned.

Major engineering work is scheduled to proceed from 2010 to 2014, while 14,200 military personnel and their 38,070 dependents will be transferred to Guam from Okinawa from 2012 to 2016.

Gordon waxed sentimental about US military presence in his city that the Philippine Senate and the eruptions of Mount Pinatubo ended in 1991.

“In three years, my father, who was the first mayor of Olongapo, was able to turn this place into a city [because of the construction of the US naval base],” he said.

End of treaty

The Philippine Senate in 1991 voted overwhelmingly to reject a treaty that would have extended the stay of two key US military bases in the Philippines—the biggest US naval base outside continental America that this city had hosted and an air force base that used to be in Clark that straddled Tarlac and Pampanga.

The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the same year hastened the departure of US forces from their bases in Subic and Clark when ash deposits destroyed or damaged US facilities and lahar threatened sites being used by US military forces.

Aurelio Pineda, president of the Metro Olongapo Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MOCCI), said the conference should address “critical issues related to opportunities in Guam.”

Bidders

“We have been getting inquiries as to how Filipino companies can reach their prospective partners, or the major contractors there,” Pineda said.

“Also, businessmen are interested about issues of labor contracting and employment, which will be tackled (in the conference),” he said.

US firms are still the Filipino contractors’ primary competitors because the Guam project “will be paid for by US taxpayers,” Alegado said.

“But there is still a huge opportunity for Filipino contractors in other areas like medical, food and training services,” he said.

Alegado added: “They will need skilled workers, medical practitioners and, eventually, also entertainment workers … and Olongapo wants to take part in this. [Right now] about 20 percent of the people [in Guam] are either from here or Zambales.”

Accredited by US Navy

Pineda said Filipino companies that plan to operate in Guam for the buildup project have to be accredited by the US Navy.

Workers who will be employed there will be hired by the contractors themselves, he said.

He said the policy was adopted to protect Filipino workers from falling prey to illegal recruiters.

Gordon said the recruitment “will be strict … because this is a military installation.”

“Workers will be recruited from all over and the US Navy will screen them thoroughly for they might be working in sensitive areas,” he said.

Natural advantage

Since Filipinos have the experience in working in an American naval base, “we naturally have the advantage,” Gordon said.

“What is happening in Guam is nothing new to us, and we might be able to transfer our learning experiences to them,” he said.

For Olongapo, the Guam military buildup represents the “third wave of progress,” Gordon said.

“First, when the Americans built their bases here, Olongapo became a city. Second, when they left, we were able to convert their facilities into a free port zone. Now, we are going to supply most of their skilled labor,” he said.

The APILG conference is also expected to draw interested contractors from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Belau, the American Samoa, Hawaii and Guam.

Guam Congressional delegate Bordallo met with island senators to discuss concerns about the military expansion in Guam.  Some Guam senators seem to want the marines to go to Hawai’i!:

Asked to discuss the possibility of an option to rather send the U.S. Marines to Hawaii, Bordallo said, “No, I don’t have any comment on that.”

That would not be an acceptable option.  How about send the marines home, for real.  Let them be with their families, grow their hair out, not  have to kill people or be killed, stop being “gangsters for capitalism” (in the words of Smedley Butler)?

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http://www.kuam.com/Global/story.asp?S=11910831

Lawmakers discuss buildup with delegate

Posted: Jan 31, 2010 7:54 PM Updated: Jan 31, 2010

by Nick Delgado

Guam – Before she returns to Washington, Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo spent the day with island leaders discussing their concerns surrounding the military buildup. The input she received today along with those received during town hall meetings this weekend will be part of Bordallo’s message to her colleagues.

Guam’s delegate didn’t have much to say after spending more than an hour behind closed doors with senators. “Everything’s going well,” said Bordallo of her series of hearings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Asked to discuss the possibility of an option to rather send the U.S. Marines to Hawaii, Bordallo said, “No, I don’t have any comment on that.”

While discussions focused mainly on concerns raised regarding the military buildup, Bordallo said they did not discuss the possibility that the marines from Okinawa wouldn’t be moving to Guam, but another location.

It’s something Speaker Judi Won Pat says can’t be ruled out, as she said, “We’ve always said from the very beginning is that there’s all these other countries and then the state of course of Hawaii, and we even found out that even in California that they have sufficient land mass and space, and they would love to have them come because their economy is so depressed too. But of course that’s not our decision to make,” she said.

Won Pat says lawmakers brought up concerns about land condemnation, plans for a berthing, firing ranges, the military’s overall footprint with the buildup, and inadequate information in the DEIS addressing health issues. The speaker says Bordallo wants a clear picture of what she has to tell her colleagues in Washington, DC. The biggest concern, lawmakers hope she gets across, is how the government will obtain full funding for buildup improvements.

“This is just moving so fast and the military is getting its resources to go out there and immediately start their projects, meanwhile where does that put Guam? We’re going to end up seeing this failing instead if the government is not able to catchup,” she said.

Senators Rory Respicio and Judi Guthertz say the meeting definitely proves that Guam’s leaders are on the same page, with the former saying, “We’re pleased that the governor asked for an extension, of course some of us did that before he did, but we’re glad he’s on board, that’s very important.” The latter added, “The congresswoman also clarified that she represents the people of Guam, unlike what some may have misunderstood her say the other day that she’s here to represent the federal government.”

Meanwhile, the speaker has called session for this Friday to discuss Resolution 275, which would present the people of Guam’s sentiment on the DEIS to President Barack Obama and Congress.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100127/NEWS01/1270348/Pentagon+s+new+strategy+beefs+up+Army++Marines

Posted on: Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Pentagon’s new strategy beefs up Army, Marines

Draft of 4-year plan suggests major impact on Isle bases

By JOHN YAUKEY

Gannett Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Boots on the ground will trump jets in the air or boats in the water in the Pentagon’s forward-looking, four-year plan due out Monday alongside the 2011 defense budget.

The Quadrennial Defense Review will recommend beefing up the Army and Marine Corps, now stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a draft version of the document.

Many of the cuts in expensive weapons have already started.

For Hawai’i and Guam — home to some of the most expensive conventional weapons the nation deploys, as well as to legions of foot soldiers — the report will have manifold consequences, although it’s not yet clear what they are.

The various military branches are expected to outline how they’ll be affected by the QDR and the proposed 2011 defense budget Monday.

The defense budget has been growing by an annual average of 4 percent, which would mean a $563 billion package for 2011, depending on whether it includes special funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If included, the war funding could boost the overall request to $700 billion or more.

The Obama administration has said it wants to include war funding in the annual budget, rather than adding it in as needed, the way the Bush administration did.

“The defense budget is now more people-oriented,” said Loren Thompson, a top defense analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute. “You’re going to see more emphasis on fighting unconventional warfare and less on weapons like aircraft carriers and bombers — more on people and less on equipment.”

thematic report

The QDR is a broad, thematic report. It does not lay out the future of the military in any detail. Those decisions unfold annually in the defense budget, and they change with each president.

Already, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has attempted to cut high-priced weapons systems, such as the F-22 fighter and Future Combat System for the Army, in favor of spending on ground-based troops and their support needs.

Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said the upcoming QDR will be the first to be driven by current wartime requirements, largely to balance conventional and nonconventional capabilities, and to embrace a “whole of government” approach to national security.

“This is a landmark QDR,” Lynn told aerospace executives at the recent Aerospace and Defense Conference. “And it comes at a time when the nature of war is changing in ways that we need to adapt to. The QDR seeks to identify these changes and the challenges they present to our security. For the first time in decades, the political and economic stars are aligned for a fundamental overhaul of the way the Pentagon does business.”

The 2006 QDR recommended moving naval strength from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in response to the rising prominence of China.

That was a boon for Hawai’i and Guam.

China remains a major concern, but it’s still not clear how the Obama administration will respond to the world’s most populous nation within the larger context of worldwide threats, especially from the radical Islamic world, where soldiers and Marines have been doing most of the work.

Resources are limited.

“Given the state of the federal budget overall, it is unlikely that this rate of (military) growth will continue,” said a report from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

That creates potential conflict between “the people who serve and the weapon systems they depend on,” the report said.