Sen. Imee Marcos (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Imee Marcos on Wednesday demanded more transparency in Philippine and American military operations in the country, as she asked the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to explain the apparent shipment of 39 million gallons of fuel from the US Navy base in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to Subic in Zambales.
Citing data from “several international shipping trackers,” Marcos said oil cargo was loaded at Pearl Harbor onto the US-registered tanker, Yosemite Trader, on Dec. 20 last year and entered Philippine territory on Tuesday.
“The Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) is not a license to leave the Filipino people in the dark,” she said, referring to the 1951 security pact between Manila and Washington.
“Subic is not an Edca (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) site, so where in Philippine territory will millions of gallons of oil be stored?” said Marcos, a sister of the President and chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations.
Edca refers to the 2014 agreement allowing the United States to preposition troops and equipment in select Philippine camps. In February last year, the Marcos administration agreed to increase the number of Edca camps from five to nine.
The DND and the AFP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Footage from the Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System, a media content website of the US Department of Defense, showed the Yosemite Trader leaving Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii for Subic Bay on Dec. 20, 2023.
‘Defueling plan’
According to the video caption, the Yosemite Trader carried “approximately 5 million gallons of usable fuel” and it was the “final merchant tanker to receive fuel” from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a World War II-era compound and one of the largest US fuel storage facilities.
“Joint Task Force-Red Hill is in the fifth and final phase of its defueling plan,” it said.
In March 2022, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III ordered the defueling and closure of Red Hill for being a health hazard for military and civilians near the facility. The fuel was to be redistributed to multiple “strategic” locations where it might be needed.
“Redistributing our fuel reserve across the Indo-Pacific will better position the United States to meet future challenges in the region,” Austin then said in a memo. The closure “will better support our operations in the Pacific theater, while caring for the health and safety of the people of Hawaii and our military families,” he said.
A report by Hawaii news website Honolulu Civil Beat in December last year quoted Nico Melendez, a Joint Task Force-Red Hill spokesperson, as saying that 39 million gallons of the fuel went to Subic Bay, while 36 million went to Campbell Industrial Park in West Oahu, 12 million went to California, and the rest was stored at the upper tank farm at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam.
‘Inexplicable silence’
Marcos said that as of Wednesday morning, the Yosemite Trader remained in its position overnight some 50 kilometers west of Subic Bay, based on reports from shipping tracker Marine Vessel Traffic.
“This is not just an issue of foreign policy but of Philippine sovereignty, even environmental safety. The government better have a clear explanation for this,” Marcos said.
The senator said the “inexplicable silence” of both the Philippine and US governments on the matter only raised suspicions that the fuel transport was in anticipation of a war erupting between China and the United States over Taiwan.
“Not again! This is Strike 3 in attempting to deprive the Filipino people of the right to know,” Marcos said.
In Senate hearings held by her committee last year, she exposed the United States’ request to house Afghan refugees in the Philippines. The panel also conducted an inquiry into the AFP’s “lapses” in informing authorities about the multiple landings of C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft of the US Air Force in the country’s domestic and international airports.