A dangerous policy shift; AFP should expel US forces

UNLESS President BBM makes his position clear and stop ‘US-endorsed’ Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel ‘Babes’ Romualdez and our entire military establishment from opening their mouths in favor of US warmongering against China using the ‘Taiwan card’ by saying “we” (Filipinos) favor expanded US military presence in our territory, people all over the world may start concluding that we are shifting towards a dangerous policy of being a ‘proxy battleground’ if and when US Imperialism launched its military attack against China.

According to mainstream media reports last September 4, 2022, Romualdez created the impression that our government would allow US forces “expanded” use of Philippine military bases in attacking China should its plan to provoke China militarily over Taiwan succeeds. He even added that PH and US defense officials are now engaged in “talks” over this eventuality.

As if on cue, in a separate article in The Daily Tribune that appeared on the same day, DND spokesperson, Arsenio Andolong, confirmed that his boss, DND OIC and former AFP chief, Jose Faustino and US defense secretary Lloyd Austin, also had a phone conversation where they discussed the “expansion” of EDCA (enhanced defense cooperation agreement) facilities in our country that are directly under control of the US military.

In other words, apart from the 5 earlier Philippine military bases (such as Fort Magsaysay) that have been thus far converted into private warehouses of US military hardware, the possibility that most of the Philippines would again be turned into one huge US military base cannot be dismissed.

We cannot help but be “alarmist” at this point given the overbearing dominance of US puppets in the Marcos administration, starting with our new foreign affairs secretary, Enrique Manalo and Romualdez posted over there in Washington. And raising our bar of fear and apprehension is the lack of PBBM’s clear position as regards the increasing US-perpetrated tension with China and with us, poor Juan dela Cruz, in the cross-hair of China’s retaliatory and ‘pre-emptive’ response.

With China (and Russia) possessing weapons that the US does not have even today (such as precision hypersonic missiles capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear payloads), we would not even know what hit us—should China decides to include us in the camp of its ‘enemies’ for hosting US military forces here targeted against its mainland.

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The history of our 124-years of relationship with US Imperialism since it launched its military aggression against us in 1898 to quash are efforts toward national independence has been a history of deceit, betrayal one-sided relationship and tons of bloodshed—mostly the blood of Filipinos who have died first from US military stupidity during the invasion and occupation of the Philippines by Japan in World War 2 and second, from US military aggression against our fellow Asians, in Korea, Vietnam, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The “amazing” thing here is that, we have really (at least our national leaders) learned nothing from the master-and-slave relationship that we have had with the Americans all these times– but we are always “proud” to claim we are an “independent” and “sovereign” country, haha!

Now, right before our eyes, we are seeing US military preparations against China—a country that has never considered the US as its “enemy” or for that matter, any other country—and yet, our own national officials seemed willing to sacrifice every drop of Filipino blood for the sake of US hegemony in this side of the world and over an issue that we all know is founded on lies—that Taiwan is an ‘independent’ country. Have we not learned anything from the US aggression against the people of Iraq in particular? That at the end of the day, Iraq has no ‘WMD’ (weapons of mass destruction)?

Well, Iraq, from being a modern Arab country has been thrown back to the Stone Age, the country utterly devastated. And after destroying most countries in the Middle East, what has Uncle Sam done?

The US, after sating its lust for blood, has left and abandoned the Iraqis to their fate. The same goes to Libya, Afghanistan and yes, Vietnam. And now, we are seeing it unfold in Ukraine. Next stop, Philippines?

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If there are still genuine patriots in our AFP—and here’s hoping that our current chief of staff, Gen. Bob Bacarro is among the very few of them in the position of power in our government— what he should then do in case the US provocation of China turns into actual war, is to order the mobilization of the entire AFP to immediately expel all US military presence in our country– to the extent of not waiting any order to do so from PBBM.

For only by doing so can we escape unscathed and avoid the destruction of modern war.