ZAMBOANGA CITY—American soldiers are found not just here and in Sulu province but in other parts of Mindanao as well, with some actually helping Filipino troops in their military operations against rebels, according to groups critical of the US military presence in the Philippines.

In a phone interview on Saturday, Octavio Dinampo, a professor at Mindanao State University (MSU), cited a case this year where, he said, a US spy plane provided directions to Filipino ground troops conducting operations against Moro rebels.

Dinampo also chairs the Bantay ceasefire team in Sulu monitoring the fragile truce between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Dinampo drew headlines in June when he and an ABS-CBN media group led by correspondent Ces Drilon were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf. They were freed a few days later after payment of a huge ransom.

Dinampo said the Philippine military and the US Embassy would like to give “an impression that their (the US troops’) stay is temporary, but in reality, since 2001, they never left.”

“In fact, they are now spreading throughout Mindanao, performing different roles and functions, but still we have hardly heard from the national government or policymakers explaining about their intentions and purposes for being here for a long time,” he said.

Dinampo cited an incident in Maimbung, Sulu, on Feb. 4 to support allegations that US forces had been involved in Philippine military operations against Moro rebels.

“The Philippine forces tapped a US spy plane and it guided the troops [on the ground],” he said.

In that incident, eight civilians, including three women and two children, were killed in what the military described as a clash between soldiers and Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Media reports at the time also quoted the survivors as saying they saw “four US soldiers” in the company of the raiding soldiers.

The US military has denied that American troops were present during the Maimbung raid.

Humanitarian mission

US and Philippine officials also have denied that American soldiers were ever in harm’s way when guerrillas ambushed a Philippine military convoy Aug. 30 in Bon-bon village in Patikul town, Sulu.

The officials said the US soldiers were inside a nearby Army camp at the time and were never threatened.

On Aug. 23, at the height of the military operations against MILF forces in Central Mindanao, a Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent saw American troops inside the 6th Infantry Division camp in Datu Saudi town in Maguindanao province.

Asked why the US troops were in the camp, Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, the division spokesperson, said they were not directly participating in the military operations but were “part of a humanitarian team.”

“They were prevented from leaving the Army camp because of the ongoing fighting. They (were) not directly participating in our operation,” Ando said.

Search for bombs

Sittie Sundang of the Kawagib Moro Human Rights Group said that at the height of military operations against MILF rebels in North Cotabato last month, four US soldiers were with Filipino troops who searched and recovered unexploded bombs in Barangay Baliki in Midsayap town.

Amabella Carumba, executive director of the Mindanao Peoples Peace Movement based in Iligan City, claimed to have seen “US troops staying at the Hill Park Inn in Midsayap, North Cotabato.”

Carumba said some US troops were also seen in Iligan and that they were based at Ayala Hotel on the MSU campus.

Allegations of US involvement in Philippine military operations have been cropping up every now and then.

The director of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) office in Western Mindanao, Jose Manuel Mamauag, said his office had documented the participation of US forces in a raid in 2004 in Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, where a police officer was among those rounded up on suspicion of being a member of the Abu Sayyaf.

“We really need to have answers to all of these. The questions of local officials [about these] are valid,” Mamauag told the Inquirer newspaper (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

‘Soft and hard’ components

Dinampo, whose group regularly monitors clashes in various parts of Mindanao, said US forces in Mindanao were performing roles with so-called “soft and hard” components.

He said the soft component consisted of “assistance” in training, skills sharing and humanitarian missions.

“The hard component is the participation of US soldiers in intelligence gathering and participation in the battlefield,” he said.

He said incidents of US presence in the battlefield “don’t really indicate that US troops are on a visiting status based on what was stipulated in the provisions of the Visiting Forces Agreement.”

Always here

“They are here, always here. Even if some of them are performing six months tour of duty, a number of them return and continue their presence,” Dinampo said.

The CHR regional office also said it had investigated reports of alleged US troops involvement in human rights violations in this city, in Basilan, and Sulu. The results of the probe were not immediately known. With a report from Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao