Ramos urged to raise waste issue

Ramos urged to raise waste issue

CLARK FIELD, Philippines (AFP): Local Philippine officials
yesterday urged President Fidel Ramos to ask U.S. President Bill
Clinton for U.S. help in cleaning up toxic waste in its former
military bases here.

The council of Angeles city, which covers this former U.S. air
force base, passed a resolution calling on Ramos to raise the
issue with Clinton during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
summit on Nov. 25.

City councillors said Ramos should "reiterate the
responsibility both morally and financially of the American
government in cleaning up toxic wastes from two former U.S.
military bases."

Several groups have accused the United States of failing to
clean up toxic waste in their former bases -- a claim denied by
U.S. officials. Until 1992, Washington maintained the strategic
Clark Air Base and the nearby Subic Bay Naval Station north of
Manila.