Defend Philippine Sovereignty!
End U.S. Support for the Marcos Regime!
The Philippines is the largest recipient of United States military and security assistance in the Asia-Pacific despite well publicized documentation of state-sanctioned and politically motivated killings, mass displacement of indigenous people, aerial bombings, attacks on press freedom, harassment, torture, disappearances of human rights defenders, and the continuing rise of political prisoners.
Since 2015, the US has sent over $1 billion worth of security assistance to the Philippines, and has offered over $4.6 billion in arms sales since 2019, which includes attack helicopters and other aircrafts, armored vehicles, assault weapons and small arms, missiles, bombs, mines, boats, and regular military trainings like the annual Balikatan exercises. Since 2022, we have been witnessing the US’s escalation of military cooperation with the Marcos Jr. regime, with the addition of four more military bases surrendered for use to the US in its geopolitical rivalry with China. In 2024, the US exponentially increased military aid to the Armed Forces of the Philippines by $500 million and, US Senators like Bill Hagerty and Tim Kaine proposed bills that would substantially increase security assistance such as the Philippine Enhanced Resilience Act (PERA) that would send $500 million annually from 2025 to 2029, reaching a total of $2.5 billion in military aid to the fascist Philippine troops.
The US bases and military presence in the Philippines is a direct affront to Philippine sovereignty and democracy, and the hard won victories of the people’s movements in the Philippines that ousted Marcos Sr. and kicked out the US military bases in the 90’s. The 1987 PH constitution clearly states in Section 25, that “After the expiration in 1991 of the Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America concerning military bases, foreign military bases, troops, or facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines”.
In addition to undermining Philippine territorial and military sovereignty, the US has effectively increased its endorsement of crimes of torture, abductions, extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate aerial bombings, forced or fake “surrenders,” and terror tagging by Philippine security forces. The human rights violations perpetrated by the Government Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and funded by the US government are, in fact, war crimes. The GRP is in active civil war with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). It is the GRP’s policy to label and treat civilians who express democratic dissent--peasant farmers, human rights workers, indigenous land defenders, journalists, human rights lawyers, labor organizers, urban poor organizers, student activists, peace consultants, and others--as combatants in its internationally recognized war with the NDFP.
dvidshub.net
Why is the US military increasing its presence in the Philippines?
The US has been instigating war with China in an attempt to control maritime trade in the Asia Pacific and contain the growth of China’s political and economic influence in the world, as US global dominance declines.
As part of its war-mongering, the US holds military exercises and war games with other countries to intimidate China as well as to showcase and sell US military weapons and equipment to participating nations, like the Philippines.
What is the conflict with China?
According to international law, namely the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), countries can only claim and use territory within 200 nautical miles of their shores. The UNCLOS was signed by China and the Philippines in 1994.
In 2016, an international court ruled overwhelmingly that China's nine-dash line claims in the South China Sea and its land reclamation activities were unlawful, invalid, and trespass into 80% of the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Despite this ruling, China continued to build artificial islands and military bases in the Kalayaan (Spratly) Islands of the West Philippine Sea (aka South China Sea). In recent years, the China Coast Guard has intensified attacks on the Philippine Coast Guard to prevent it from resupplying a Philippine Navy ship in the Kalayaan Islands. China has also attacked civilian fishing boats, preventing fisherfolk from earning their livelihood.
In 2023, China brazenly released a ten-dash line map in which it claimed even more territory in the South China Sea. This was promptly protested and condemned by India, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
dvidshub.net
Why does US militarization in the Philippines put Filipinos in more danger?
The US has been taking advantage of the Philippines’ maritime territorial disputes with China as an opportunity to re-establish US military bases in the Philippines and perpetuate US dominance over the Asia-Pacific. Stoking war with China will only endanger and devastate Filipino lives and land for a war the people do not want.
Even without a full-on war with China, US military aid and troop presence has proven to increase and exacerbate human rights violations by the AFP and US military. US Navy ships have also caused devastation to the Philippine environment, such as the massive damage from ramming into the Tubbataha coral reef in 2013.
The people painfully remember how the US has abandoned its “allies” in times of war, just like how General MacArthur left Filipinos to fend for themselves against the fascist Japanese military in WWII, and most recently how it has brazenly cast aside Ukraine. The US is showing that it only cares about its own economic and political interests and can discard “allies” when they are no longer profitable.
How can Philippine sovereignty be defended without US militarization?
The Philippines should assert its sovereignty under international law through engaging in diplomacy with concerned countries regarding territorial disputes. This includes engaging in dialogue and diplomacy with China, and de-escalation instead of ramping up militarization. All parties must demilitarize the West Philippine Sea in order to de-escalate and negotiate in good faith.
The Philippines can take up a policy of non-alignment with both warring super powers, the U.S. and China. By non-aligning, the Philippines can prioritize the needs of the Filipino people first through building a self-reliant economy, ending unequal economic and military agreements with foreign powers, and protecting its natural resources.
The Philippines can further engage in diplomacy and align with other countries who are also upholding their sovereignty in the region like Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.
Why does this matter to Filipinos in the US?
Filipino workers face chronic fascism in the Philippines, while those who are forced to migrate abroad are forced to face fascism in their host countries. With the Trump Administration’s attacks on immigrant communities, Jose Manuel Romualdez, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S., has continually neglected and failed to advocate for Fillipinos languishing in inhumane ICE detention centers. Through his inaction, Romualdez’ leverages the labor of Filipino workers in exchange for continued U.S. support and military aid to the Philippines.
Since 2015, the US has sent over $1 billion worth of security assistance to the Philippines, and has offered over $10 billion in arms sales since 2019. Our U.S. tax dollars have directly contributed towards the killings and human rights abuses of our own kababayan, and takes away from much needed resources for Filipino American communities in the U.S. for social services like healthcare, housing, and education.
Expose the worsening human rights situation under the Marcos regime
Oppose US intervention and funding to the Philippine military and police, in response to US war with China, that funds war crimes and fascist violence against the Filipino people
Defend Philippine sovereignty from foreign intervention by the U.S. and China
Build a mass movement across the U.S. among Filipinos and allies against U.S. militarism in Philippines
