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IMPLICATIONS OF US MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
US military intervention in Mindanao and Basilan, in the guise of “joint military exercises,” is a US imposition and a brazen display of the arrogance of power.
IMPLICATIONS OF US MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
By Capt. Danilo P. Vizmanos PN (ret.)
Convenor, Junk VFA Movement
1. US military intervention in Mindanao and Basilan, in the guise of “joint military exercises,” is a US imposition and a brazen display of the arrogance of power. It is also a confirmation of the puppetry of the top leadership in the government. This places the Philippines in the same category as the banana republics in Latin America where US military intervention is accepted by the native governments as a norm.
2. US military presence must be viewed from a historical perspective. The US track record in the Philippines since 1898 has been a history of continuing deception and impositions. In 1898, a naïve Emilio Aguinaldo initially believed that the dispatch of US expeditionary forces was to help the Filipinos in their struggle for independence. He politically matured faster than expected when:
a. Filipino revolutionary forces were refused entry to Intramuros after the surrender of the Spanish garrison on Aug. 13, 1898
b. American troops fired on Filipino soldiers in San Juan on Feb. 4, 1899 to start the Filipino-American war
3. During World War II, Filipino soldiers and guerillas who fought side by side with American soldiers in defense of the country against Japanese aggression were recognized and given assurance of compensation and benefits by the US government. After the war and up to the present, they have not been given the benefits promised.
4. The Philippines was promised full independence by the US as early as 1935. In 1946, the Philippines attained nominal political independence only after compliance with the following conditions:
a) inclusion of a “parity” amendment to the Philippine Constitution
b) Acceptance of a US-imposed Military Bases Agreement
5. Today, the US government has presented the Philippine government with a fait accompli, i.e., US military intervention in the guise of “joint military exercises.” President Arroyo merely said “amen” and justified it by citing the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement.
6. US military intervention in the guise of “joint military exercises” is an affront to the Filipino people and makes a mockery of the Constitution. Even then, President Arroyo and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes justified it in the name of anti-terrorism which is not within the purview of the MDT and VFA.
7. US military intervention is an insult to the fighting capability and competence of the Filipino soldier. The Filipino soldier under the present AFP has been engaged in counter-insurgency since the 1950s. The American soldier’s only direct involvement in counter-insurgency was in Vietnam which was a miserable failure. So what can the Americans teach the Filipinos in this most difficult form of warfare? The only thing that US military authorities can think of is the massive application of bombs and missiles. But the performance of American foot soldiers has been a failure in grassroots warfare which is the one that really counts.
8. Basilan is a laboratory for US proxy war against people’s armed struggle in a tropical environment.
9. US military intervention is being justified in the name of anti-terrorism and rescy operations. Actually, there is a hidden agenda and bigger stakes involved, namely, global and regional economic and geo-political interests:
a. Mindanao has a vast economic potential and rich in raw materials. Its economic exploitation by giant predatory multinational corporations is a more plausible justification for military intervention
b. Mindanao has become more strategic than Luzon for the projection of US military power and interdiction of sea and air lanes in the Southeast Asian region. In fact, military base facilities have already been constructed in the Socsargen area by USAID, an agency deeply involved in base facilities construction in the Vietnam War
c. The presence of US military forces, bases and facilities in strategic areas of the world is a requirement of US power politics and perpetuation of global hegemony with imperialist globalization as its main thrust.
10. Because of the Philippine government’s subservience and connivance with the US power elite, people power through a higher plane of people’s struggle assumes greater significance and urgency. Intensified people’s struggle has become an imperative if we are to prevent the indefinite and perhaps perpetual presence of foreign military forces on Philippine soil which is an affront to the Filipino people and the national sovereignty.
Jan. 21, 2002
DECEPTION AND BETRAYAL: PART II
By Capt. Danilo P. Vizmanos PN (ret.)
Convenor, Junk VFA Movement
A brazen display of arrogance of power!
A mockery of the Philippine Constitution and national sovereignty!
An insult to the fighting capability and competence of the Filipino soldier!
An imperious and condescending attitude towards the political leadership in Malacanang and Congress!
Contempt for the dignity of the Filipino people!
This is the meaning of covert US military intervention in the country in the name of anti-terrorism and the guise of joint military exercises.
In 1898 President William McKinley declared to the whole world that US expeditionary forces were dispatched to the Philippines to help the Filipino people in their struggle for independence. It did not take long for the local political leadership led by Emilio Aguinaldo to sense the deception and betrayal by the new colonialists. A political opportunist by the name of Pedro Paterno was the only one who did not feel betrayed.
Today there are dozens of Pedro Paternos in Malacanang and the halls of Congress who are conniving with the US power elite in deceiving and betraying the Filipino people once again. They are justifying US military intervention in the country by invoking US-imposed agreements such as the anachronistic RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agreement.
In the guise of joint military exercises US military forces have once again been dispatched to the Philippines as the cutting edge of US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the guise of anti-terrorism US vested interests are now focused on Mindanao because of its economic potential and vast raw material resources. Anti-terrorism and joint military exercises serve as handy justifications to make Mindanao a private preserve for unrestricted economic exploitation by US monopoly capital.
Basilan now serves as a laboratory for Washington's anti-terrorism crusade. Mindanao is also eyed as a strategic base complex for projection of US military power in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia which is a political powder keg in the region.
Filipino soldiers are perhaps the most tried and tested troops in the world today in terms of counterinsurgency operations. They have had decades of experience in this most difficult form of warfare. So one may ask: Why do they have to be "advised" and "coordinated" by hundreds and eventually thousands of American "anti-terrorism specialists" over an extended and indefinite period of continuous joint military exercises in Mindanao? Especially considering the miserable failure of US "special warfare specialists" in theVietnam war despite their unrestricted employment of massive and highly sophisticated weaponry!
Disguised US military intervention in the Philippines is a provocation that should spur the Filipino people to a higher plane of struggle against predatory US hegemony, ruthless power politics and military adventurism.
Let it not be said that for the second time around the Filipino people would again be the victims of duplicity and betrayal by US imperialist interests and the clones of Pedro Paterno at the highest level of the national leadership! ###
Jan. 18, 2002
----------------------------------------------
JUNK VFA MOVEMENT
Office: 23 Maamo Street, Sikatuna Village
Quezon City, Philippines 1101
Tel. Nos. [632] 4359151, 9225211
Telefax Nos. [632] 9225211
By Capt. Danilo P. Vizmanos PN (ret.)
Convenor, Junk VFA Movement
1. US military intervention in Mindanao and Basilan, in the guise of “joint military exercises,” is a US imposition and a brazen display of the arrogance of power. It is also a confirmation of the puppetry of the top leadership in the government. This places the Philippines in the same category as the banana republics in Latin America where US military intervention is accepted by the native governments as a norm.
2. US military presence must be viewed from a historical perspective. The US track record in the Philippines since 1898 has been a history of continuing deception and impositions. In 1898, a naïve Emilio Aguinaldo initially believed that the dispatch of US expeditionary forces was to help the Filipinos in their struggle for independence. He politically matured faster than expected when:
a. Filipino revolutionary forces were refused entry to Intramuros after the surrender of the Spanish garrison on Aug. 13, 1898
b. American troops fired on Filipino soldiers in San Juan on Feb. 4, 1899 to start the Filipino-American war
3. During World War II, Filipino soldiers and guerillas who fought side by side with American soldiers in defense of the country against Japanese aggression were recognized and given assurance of compensation and benefits by the US government. After the war and up to the present, they have not been given the benefits promised.
4. The Philippines was promised full independence by the US as early as 1935. In 1946, the Philippines attained nominal political independence only after compliance with the following conditions:
a) inclusion of a “parity” amendment to the Philippine Constitution
b) Acceptance of a US-imposed Military Bases Agreement
5. Today, the US government has presented the Philippine government with a fait accompli, i.e., US military intervention in the guise of “joint military exercises.” President Arroyo merely said “amen” and justified it by citing the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement.
6. US military intervention in the guise of “joint military exercises” is an affront to the Filipino people and makes a mockery of the Constitution. Even then, President Arroyo and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes justified it in the name of anti-terrorism which is not within the purview of the MDT and VFA.
7. US military intervention is an insult to the fighting capability and competence of the Filipino soldier. The Filipino soldier under the present AFP has been engaged in counter-insurgency since the 1950s. The American soldier’s only direct involvement in counter-insurgency was in Vietnam which was a miserable failure. So what can the Americans teach the Filipinos in this most difficult form of warfare? The only thing that US military authorities can think of is the massive application of bombs and missiles. But the performance of American foot soldiers has been a failure in grassroots warfare which is the one that really counts.
8. Basilan is a laboratory for US proxy war against people’s armed struggle in a tropical environment.
9. US military intervention is being justified in the name of anti-terrorism and rescy operations. Actually, there is a hidden agenda and bigger stakes involved, namely, global and regional economic and geo-political interests:
a. Mindanao has a vast economic potential and rich in raw materials. Its economic exploitation by giant predatory multinational corporations is a more plausible justification for military intervention
b. Mindanao has become more strategic than Luzon for the projection of US military power and interdiction of sea and air lanes in the Southeast Asian region. In fact, military base facilities have already been constructed in the Socsargen area by USAID, an agency deeply involved in base facilities construction in the Vietnam War
c. The presence of US military forces, bases and facilities in strategic areas of the world is a requirement of US power politics and perpetuation of global hegemony with imperialist globalization as its main thrust.
10. Because of the Philippine government’s subservience and connivance with the US power elite, people power through a higher plane of people’s struggle assumes greater significance and urgency. Intensified people’s struggle has become an imperative if we are to prevent the indefinite and perhaps perpetual presence of foreign military forces on Philippine soil which is an affront to the Filipino people and the national sovereignty.
Jan. 21, 2002
DECEPTION AND BETRAYAL: PART II
By Capt. Danilo P. Vizmanos PN (ret.)
Convenor, Junk VFA Movement
A brazen display of arrogance of power!
A mockery of the Philippine Constitution and national sovereignty!
An insult to the fighting capability and competence of the Filipino soldier!
An imperious and condescending attitude towards the political leadership in Malacanang and Congress!
Contempt for the dignity of the Filipino people!
This is the meaning of covert US military intervention in the country in the name of anti-terrorism and the guise of joint military exercises.
In 1898 President William McKinley declared to the whole world that US expeditionary forces were dispatched to the Philippines to help the Filipino people in their struggle for independence. It did not take long for the local political leadership led by Emilio Aguinaldo to sense the deception and betrayal by the new colonialists. A political opportunist by the name of Pedro Paterno was the only one who did not feel betrayed.
Today there are dozens of Pedro Paternos in Malacanang and the halls of Congress who are conniving with the US power elite in deceiving and betraying the Filipino people once again. They are justifying US military intervention in the country by invoking US-imposed agreements such as the anachronistic RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agreement.
In the guise of joint military exercises US military forces have once again been dispatched to the Philippines as the cutting edge of US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the guise of anti-terrorism US vested interests are now focused on Mindanao because of its economic potential and vast raw material resources. Anti-terrorism and joint military exercises serve as handy justifications to make Mindanao a private preserve for unrestricted economic exploitation by US monopoly capital.
Basilan now serves as a laboratory for Washington's anti-terrorism crusade. Mindanao is also eyed as a strategic base complex for projection of US military power in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia which is a political powder keg in the region.
Filipino soldiers are perhaps the most tried and tested troops in the world today in terms of counterinsurgency operations. They have had decades of experience in this most difficult form of warfare. So one may ask: Why do they have to be "advised" and "coordinated" by hundreds and eventually thousands of American "anti-terrorism specialists" over an extended and indefinite period of continuous joint military exercises in Mindanao? Especially considering the miserable failure of US "special warfare specialists" in theVietnam war despite their unrestricted employment of massive and highly sophisticated weaponry!
Disguised US military intervention in the Philippines is a provocation that should spur the Filipino people to a higher plane of struggle against predatory US hegemony, ruthless power politics and military adventurism.
Let it not be said that for the second time around the Filipino people would again be the victims of duplicity and betrayal by US imperialist interests and the clones of Pedro Paterno at the highest level of the national leadership! ###
Jan. 18, 2002
----------------------------------------------
JUNK VFA MOVEMENT
Office: 23 Maamo Street, Sikatuna Village
Quezon City, Philippines 1101
Tel. Nos. [632] 4359151, 9225211
Telefax Nos. [632] 9225211
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If it werent for the US, the APAC region would have long since been bowing to the emperor of Japan by now-- unless you're a woman in which case you'd be a concubine.
Philipinas go outside the country to find work because the government is too corrupt to run the country effectively and provide paying jobs..
Any Philipina working in Japan is at least doing so willingly-- which is a big difference to how it would have been had WWII turned out differently and the US hadn't busted ass over there against the Japs who were more than happy to enslave, torture and rape their defeated enemies..