필리핀 피해자 사망 소식.

2006.01.20 | 군기지

필리핀 미군기지 정화위원회 사무처장인 뮐라가 보낸 영문 소식입니다.
<요약>
필리핀 마답땁에 살고 있는 54세의 Rosalinda Pineda씨가 1월 12일 사망하였다. 그는 미군기지 철수 이후 차량 정비창 부지에 거주했었는데 오염문제로 신장 질병을 앓아 왔다.
보건청이 2000년과 2004년에 조사한 바에 따르면 혈중 중금속 함유 수치가 높게 나타났던 것으로 밝혀졌습니다. 97명의 여성과 어린이 중 47명이 높은 수치를 보였다고 한다.
이 결과에 따라 파인다씨는 며칠동안 치료를 받았지만 돈이 없어 치료를 중단하였다.
이 조사 결과는 공개되지 않다가, 미군기지 정화위원회가 우연히 작년에 발견된 사실이다.
미국의 질병관리청에 따르면 높은 중금속 혈중치는 신경계, 생식기, 위, 신장 등의 이상을 가져온다고 한다.

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

For further information: Myrla Baldonado, Executive
Director, People’s Task Force for
Bases Clean-up,
President, Alliance for Bases Clean-up, Intl. Tel.
(02) 9254147/ mobile: 09284128775

MOTHER RESPONDENT TO BLOOD TEST BY DOH DIES

Madapdap Resettlement, Mabalacat, Pampanga —
Rosalinda Pineda, 54 years old, former CABCOM evacuee
died and was buried on January 12 amidst fears by
other residents for their own lives. She was
diagnosed earlier of a severe kidney ailment. In a
related development, another CABCOM evacuee, Rogelio
Bunque, 37 years old died from a lingering illness due
to a liver ailment.

Mrs. Pineda was one of the 97 respondents to a random
study titled “Health and Environmental Assessment of
the Impact of Toxic Waste in Clark, Pampanga,”
Philippines. Majority of respondents were picked
from a former motorpool of Clark (CABCOM). The study
was conducted by the National Poisons Control and
the DOH in March 2000 and September 2004 According to
records, 47 out of 97 women and children registered
high levels of arsenic and lead in their blood. Mrs.
Pineda was part of a group of 9 persons, 6 adults and
nine children who have undergone initial
detoxification at the PGH for 15 days. The
program stopped due to lack of funds.

Results of the study was never announced publicly nor
given to the People’s Task Force for Bases Clean-up.
The PTFBCU only accidentally stumbled on this when
they insisted on being observers in a consultation
among government agencies on this matter last year in
Mabalacat. The meeting was attended by local
officials, the National Poisons Control and the
Department of Health Region III. The PTFBCU was
consistently denied a copy of the results and were
told that it was a highly confidential report for it
may cause fears to the residents. After three months
of investigation, they were able to locate the records
and the victims.

The records showed the list of people who have tested
positive for high levels of arsenic and lead in the
blood. DOH average for lead in the blood is 18.74
ug/dl for adults, Rosalinda Pineda had 108 ug/dl.

Rosalinda Pineda, a food vendor who lived in CABCOM
for four years was the first casualty of the group of
47. She left 7 children and a 12 year old child,
Rose Anne who also tested high for lead and arsenic in
her blood. Rosalinda’s mother, Ofelia Calaguas who
was herself a CABCOM evacuee said during the wake
that “Hindi malayo na apektado kaming mga iba pang
tumira sa CABCOM. Officers of the People’s Task Force
for Bases Clean-up observed that the number which is
almost 50 per cent of the respondents of the random
test represents the health situation of half of the
35,000 families who were evacuated in CABCOM. It
would have been stronger if the random test had
concentrated on the CABCOM evacuees and did not
include non-residents of the former US motorpool.

According to the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Disease
Registry), high levels of lead can adversely affect
many systems in the body, including the neurological,
reproductive, gastrointestinal, hematopoietic, and
renal systems . The effect of lead that is usually
considered to be of the greatest concern in children
is the impairment on the neurological system and the
resulting developmental and behavioral problems .
Blood lead levels as low as 10 �g/dL can adversely
affect the behavior and development of children. The
most sensitive body sites to arsenic include the
respiratory system, the liver, the heart, the
hematopoietic system, the kidneys, and central nervous
system.

CABCOM or Clark Airbase Command was a former
motorpool of the US Airforce in Clark. This fact was
established by a group of US NGO experts who was part
of a delegation in 1992 that investigated the bases.
Several veteran workers of Clark confirmed its former
use however until this day, CDC continues to deniy
that it was a former motorpool before it became an
area for the Philippine Air Force to guard perimeter
security. When the volcano erupted several thousands
of families were evacuated there and it became a
processing area for the resettlement of Pinatubo
evacuees. Several deaths, congenital diseases,
birth deformities, cancers and internal organ like
kidney and liver damage were reported after the
transfer of the residents to the site up and even up
to now. Some of those were documented by the People’s
Task force for Bases Clean-up. The residents attest
to the fact that these illnesses never surfaced before
they were evacuated to CABCOM. PTFBCU suspects that
considering the limited studies done that identified
only the presence of lead, mercury and arsenic there
could be more like Persistent Organic Pollutants had
a thorough investigation been done. Persistent
Organic Pollutants such as dieldrin and heptachlor
were present at high levels in the other sites studied
by Weston International, a consulting firm
commissioned by the CDC in 1997.

SAUP-TWV-Clark, (a provincial organization of over a
thousand families victims) leader, Nelia Carreon who
was with Pineda in the detoxicfication program in PGH
said, ” we feel sad with the death of one of us and we
fear for our own lives. Why do these things have to
be kept secret? I myself did not understand that the
results could be serious and fatal until the People’s
Task Force informed us about this matter. We feel
abandoned by the government for discontinuing the
detoxicification program. We think that the
program should continue and that clean-up must
happen.”

Myrla Baldonado, Executive Director of the People’s
Task Force for Bases Clean-up, reiterated calls for
the United States government to owe up to its
responsibility, for the Philippine government to stop
covering up for them and to resume negotiations for a
health intervention and clean-up. END 01/17/06

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