RP to inspect former U.S. base

RP to inspect former U.S. base

MANILA (AFP): A Philippine government task force will inspect
the former U.S. air force Clark base to determine whether any
hazardous waste was left behind, President Joseph Estrada's
spokesman said on Monday.

The technical working group of the task force "will be
conducting an ocular inspection of the (suspected) contaminated
sites in Clark on Friday", spokesman Fernando Barican told
reporters.

The U.S. State Department has proposed setting up a private
sector-led bilateral experts panel to clean-up Clark that will
also include the U.S.-based Civil Engineering Research
Foundation, he added.

U.S. troops abandoned Clark, north of Manila in 1991 after it
was devastated by the catastrophic eruption of the nearby
Pinatubo volcano, and handed over Subic Naval Base to the
Philippines the following year after the Filipino senate rejected
a new bases treaty.