The Philippine Navy’s “friendliness” with the US Navy comes at the cost of peace and progress for the rest of the Philippine nation. For in conducting the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT), the Philippine Navy has reduced itself to a reserve army of the US Navy and a steward of the US in maintaining its hold in the Asia-Pacific region.

This conviction rallied members of the League of the Filipino Students (LFS) in a march on Fil-Am Friendship Day to the US Embassy in Manila to denounce the Aquino administration’s pursuance of US interests in the country amidst strong opposition from the group and other militant progressive organizations.

US[er]-friendly

The anti-imperialist group pointed out the abusive relationship between the Philippines and the US, claiming there is no friendship in the US manipulating the submissive Philippine government into furthering its own agenda while compensating the condition of Filipinos.

“While US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. denies CARAT’s involvement in the West Philippine Sea dispute with China, there’s no denying that the naval exercises serve the US’ aim of interoperability following its strategic defense plan released January this year that calls for the rebalancing of US military forces toward the Asia-Pacific,” explains LFS Chairperson Gemma Canalis.

With the US gaining a foothold in Mindanao and other bases and ports in the Philippines, the LFS contests it would be easier for the imperialist state to then execute its plans in the Asia-Pacific to preserve itself as the sole economic superpower, which it maintains by exploiting the people of its neo-colonies like the Philippines.

Call to action

The LFS criticized President Aquino for the allowing the continued US use of Philippine facilities and territory and  called on the rest of the Filipinos to protest the blatant exploitation of the Philippines by the US government.

“In face of foreign neoliberal policies permeating our country, we should all unite in registering our demand for a Philippines able to govern itself and free from the dictates of the imperialist US. We cannot rely on Aquino’s ‘daang matuwid,’ for in his two years in power he has made clear that his road is going down the path of poverty for the Filipino people in favor of foreign capitalists. Only through collective action shall we be able to forge our own nation with a government that will truly serve the interests of its people,” says Canalis.

(via lfs.ph) 

Despite the Aquino government’s position that the deployment of US spy planes over the West Philippines Sea will not aggravate China, the militant youth organization League of Filipino Students believe otherwise.

The Aquino government is insincere in resolving the PH-China dispute over Scarborough Shoal through diplomatic relations. Yesterday, they released a statement giving full support to Sonia Brady, the Philippine ambassador to China, in pursuing talks and consultations to settle the standoff.

However, on the same day, news of Aquino’s plea for deployment of US spy planes to monitor the West Philippine Sea also broke out.

While the Department of Foreign Affairs boasts of its thrust to negotiate the issue through diplomacy, Aquino, on the other hand, shows insincerity in resolving the dispute altogether by dragging US support on the matter. The possible deployment of spy planes is just an addition to the well-orchestrated US narrative as a sloppy excuse to maintain permanence in the region.

Nearing its 3rd month, the Scarborough row between the Philippines and China must be seen within the context that early in 2012, the US planned to re-balance its military forces in Asia-Pacific. Since then, the Filipino people have witnessed the outright puppetry of the Aquino government; intensely manifested by the following accounts:

1. Monthly top-level talks between US-PH officials, the most recent of which is the meeting between Aquino and Obama on the first week of June which translated to the forging of US Senate Resolution 481, assuring greater cooperation between US-PH in the context of the territorial row between China,
2. The inter-operationability of US Armed Forces (USAF) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) through the recently resumed Balikatan exercises, and the sustained US military presence (and operations) in Camp Navarro which houses some 600 members of USAF,
3. The frequent port calls of US nuclear warships; drone flights over PH airspace “for reconnaissance purposes” which allegedly killed jihadists in Sulu; the presence of the largest defense contractor for US nuclear warships (AMSEC-Huntington Ingalls) in Subic that has provided for “replenishment of supplies” of the USS North Carolina and USS Louisville; the construction of the National Coast Watch Center or radar that will determine intrusions in the West Philippine Sea; and, last but definitely not the least, Aquino’s most recent request for spy planes for surveillance and monitoring of the West Philippine Sea.
4. Possible railroading of the Philippine Senate of the PH-Australia Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) upon resumption of session. Austraila has been hailed as the “junior partner” in terms of military relations and close ally in the re-balancing of forces in the region.

On July 4, the Philippines will be celebrating the US-Philippine Friendship Day. But there’s no reason to celebrate. The relationship that the Philippines have with US is that of a dog being dragged by the chains of neo-colonialism by its imperialist master.

On Aquino’s third SONA, the League of Filipino Students calls on the youth and Filipino people who have preferential love for the country and freedom to march as one to break away from shackles that bound us to slavery, poverty, and the litany of capitalist imperatives. We need to collectively put a dead end to Aquino’s “tuwid na daan” of puppetry, and struggle for true national liberation, sovereignty, and patrimony.

(via lfs.ph)