War on the Peace Corps : Volunteers Are a Pawn in Desperate Philippines Death Struggle

The Peace Corps, after nearly 30 years of continuous service in the Philippines, has been forced to suspend its operations. Idealistic volunteers who have worked on agricultural projects and in teaching and development in the island nation’s impoverished provinces have been withdrawn after sad and hasty farewells to the Filipinos they worked so closely among.

But Timothy Swanson, 26, of Cheyenne, Wyo., remains behind in the hands of rebels on remote Negros Island. He was abducted on June 13 by armed men, but his disappearance was not confirmed until Saturday when he failed to answer his evacuation notice.

The U.S. government ordered 261 volunteers out of the country, based on intelligence reaching the embassy in Manila that the volunteers had been targeted by the Communist-led New People’s Army. It would have been imprudent to ignore that risk. In the last three years 10 Americans have been killed by the guerrillas, and an open threat of more murders has been made.

It’s clear that the NPA hopes, through terrorist acts, to force an American withdrawal from the giant naval and air bases at Subic Bay and Clark Field, and a halt in U.S. military and economic aid to Corazon Aquino’s government. Japan, which also contributes economically to the Philippines, has had its nationals threatened. A Japanese aid worker was kidnaped by the NPA more than a month ago and is still being held.

Some Filipino officials, including Aquino, say they were shocked by the suddenness of the U.S. decision to withdraw corps volunteers. But the U.S. Embassy recently warned 140,000 Americans living in the Philippines of their increased risk of terrorism when talks resume in August over the future of the U.S. bases. The NPA targeted Peace Corps volunteers, especially those in more remote areas where the Aquino government’s presence is weak and security is shaky. The assassination of a village official by the NPA would draw little notice in the United States. The killing or kidnaping of a Peace Corps volunteer would raise immediate questions about the Aquino government’s ability to control the countryside and provide adequate security.

The security situation varies from province to province, but it would seem that the NPA is no longer growing in numbers or expanding its effective territorial control. At the same time, though, there seems to have been little reduction in the misery index of most Filipinos. The country’s economy is the sickest in Southeast Asia, long-promised reforms have been delayed or drastically watered down, nepotism and cronyism too often remain the bases of governance. The Philippines is a country desperately in need of a lot of things. The Peace Corps was one of them, and its departure is a true loss.