On Villagers’ PCB Litigation

At Issue: The proposed medical exam and litigation against the federal government by and for Tanapag villagers.

Our View: It would be a long and arduous process, but justice can only be had by those who proactively search for the truth.

The road to justice is a long and arduous journey. We have seen how the federal government has treated Japanese-Americans right before World War II out of suspicion of the likelihood of collaboration with the enemy. To this date, the issue, specifically, compensation for lost property has yet to be resolved.

At the close of the last century, Filipino Scouts were finally granted their dues after more than 40 years of seeking for nothing but what is rightfully owed them as US Citizens. About two weeks ago, local Marine Scouts were accorded the honor and distinction they so rightfully deserve for standing in harms way with regular US
Marines flushing out snipers in caves here and in the northern islands.

Indeed, each case took nearly or more than half-a-century to resolve in what we now of as justice. We are not saying that the planned litigation by the simple villagers in Tanapag would take that long a period of time for resolution. But given the notoriety of the federal government involving lawsuits against it, the journey could very well be a long one.

However a long process, we admire the determination of villagers to seek redress for a condition they now must endure when the NTTU left behind drums of PCBs around the village that may have contributed to the apparent increase in various forms of fatal cancer illnesses after more than four decades. We sincerely hope it is a case of simple neglect rather than a purposeful health experiment to see the effects of PCBs on human beings.

This issue reminds us of the detonation of the A-Bomb in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the mid-fifties where the net result is long-term thyroid cancer and other forms of cancer when the dust of the bomb settled on Eniwetok, Rongelap, Utirik and Bikini. Too, it would be good to find out from the US Department of
Defense whatever happened to the unused A-Bombs after the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing? Were they buried on the runway on Tinian or was it shipped elsewhere?

We hope that the use of lethal chemicals and nuclear weapons would never again be used for any form of experiment on any and all human beings. Si Yuus Maase`!