The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on Sunday called on the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (LOCVFA) to investigate the reported involvement of United States troops in the operation that killed Abu Sayyaf spokesman Aldam Tilao, alias Abu Sabaya, in June 2002.

In a press release, ACT urged the Senate to summon two Philippine Marines officers, Major General Juancho Sabban and Major Gieram Aragones to shed light on the participation of US soldiers in said operation.

Sabban is currently the commander of the Joint Task Force Comet based in Sulu while Aragones is a Marine intelligence officer.

"These two officers gave the American journalist Mark Bowden extensive interviews in which they openly acknowledged working with the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US Navy SEALs (SEa, Air, and Land) in an operation to track down and eventually eliminate Abu Sabaya," said ACT chairperson Antonio Tinio.

Tinio noted that Sabban and Aragones provided much of the source material for Bowden's article entitled "Jihadists in Paradise," which appeared as the cover story of the U.S. magazine The Atlantic in March 2007.

According to ACT, “Jihadists in Paradise” recounted the roles played by the Philippine military, US commandos, and the CIA in hunting down the Abu Sayyaf, the bandit group that kidnapped 20 tourists from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in 2001, including three Americans named Guillermo Sobero, Martin Burnham, and Gracia Burnham.

Tinio said that Bowden's piece served as the basis for the documentary "Stalking Jihad," which was first aired on the US cable channel The History Channel last October 2007. Sabban and Aragones likewise make appearances in the TV documentary.

"The candid revelations made by Sabban and Aragones in the article are clear evidence that US troops directly participated in combat operations in Philippine territory, in direct violation of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Philippine Constitution."

Bowden is the best-selling author of Black Hawk Down, which recounts the US military's debacle in Somalia. The book was subsequently turned into a Hollywood movie.

Tinio mentioned that the Atlantic article raised wider questions regarding violations of Philippine sovereignty

He said that the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting forces agreement (VFA) only allow the presence of US troops on Philippine territory for joint military exercises.                                          

"We're not just talking about violations of the terms of the VFA. The article confirms that the CIA, US military intelligence, and even the FBI have been operating freely in the south in the name of the so-called war on terror, with the full consent and cooperation of our government. It also confirms that the many joint exercises being conducted in Mindanao are used as a cover for US military operations in the area. This is making a mockery of the Constitution," he said.          

ACT is calling for the scrapping of the VFA.