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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/02/03/filipino-movements-protest-marcos-jrs-decision-to-further-open-up-to-us-military/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Filipino movements protest Marcos Jr’s decision to further open up to US military <br></h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Peoples Dispatch - February 3, 2023<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><img src="cid:ii_ldp0lcih0" alt="image.png" width="392" height="220"><br><p>Filipino
movements protest against the decision to expand EDCA sites in the
Philippines, outside Camp Aguinaldo, the general headquarters of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). (Photo:ILPS/Twitter)
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<p><span>The Philippines has agreed to give the US military further
access to more local bases across the country. The move was announced by
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Thursday, February 2, along with US
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is on a visit to the country.</span></p>
<p><span>As per the agreement reached by the two countries, the US will
gain access to four new bases under the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP). This military access will be facilitated by the 2014 Enhanced
Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and will be on top of the already
existing EDCA facilities that the US has access to.</span></p>
<p><span>The EDCA, put in place during Barack Obama’s administration, is
the most prominent military agreement signed between the US and the
Philippines since the complete withdrawal of US troops in 1992. The
agreement gives the US access to strategic military sites in the
Philippines, allowing extended stays for US troops, and the building and
operation of facilities on Philippine bases.</span></p>
<p><span>A joint statement by the Philippines and the US states “their
plans to accelerate the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement with the agreement to designate four new Agreed
Locations in strategic areas of the country and the substantial
completion of the projects in the existing five Agreed Locations.”</span></p>
<p><span>While the areas identified for new bases are yet to be
disclosed, reports suggest that they will include areas close to Taiwan
and Palawan Island, near the South China Sea. Recently, US
Vice-President Kamala Harris’ visit to the Philippines in November 2022
included a visit to a naval ship in Palawan, which led to a strong
response from China.</span></p>
<p><span>The expansion of EDCA sites has been in the works for months
under the Marcos administration. Even before the announcement of the
deal, progressive movements had been protesting Austin’s visit to the
Philippines.</span></p>
<p><span>Rights group Karapatan had earlier said that nothing good could
come from his visit, and even described Austin as “a man whose career
and fortune were built on the deaths and destruction resulting from
US-driven wars of aggression.”</span></p>
<p><span>“Aside from being one of the top military commanders who led
the US’s bloody wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan that claimed
almost a million lives, most of them civilians, he is the face of the
money side of US warmongering, the side that ravenously feeds off the
suffering of the victims of these evil wars,” Karapatan Secretary
General Cristina Palabay said.</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">EARLIER: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BayanMuna?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BayanMuna</a>
Partylist members join the multi-sectoral rally to protest the visit of
US Defense Secretary Austin. Different sectors call for the junking of
Visiting Forces Agreement and other military agreements with the
Philippines. <a href="https://t.co/TSD2Mo4Qa8">pic.twitter.com/TSD2Mo4Qa8</a></p>
<p>— BAYAN MUNA Partylist (@BayanMuna) <a href="https://twitter.com/BayanMuna/status/1620999533533761537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><span>After the announcement, the joint decision was widely decried
by peace advocates, who see it as part of a months-long effort by the US
to expand its military presence across the Indo-Pacific, with an intent
to encircle China.</span></p>
<p><span>The Philippines is also expected to see a boost in US military
aid, with the US having recently allocated a potential USD 100 million
in defense financing for the country. This is on top of the 82 million
allocated for upgrading the five existing EDCA bases.</span></p>
<p><span>“At least USD 100 million in military assistance is already in
the pipeline in exchange for the Marcos Jr regime’s reaffirmation of
EDCA and other military agreements with the US,” Palabay had predicted
in a statement released shortly after Austin’s arrival.</span></p>
<p><span>“With Austin’s background, we can expect more murder and mayhem
against the Filipino people as the US intensifies its intervention in
the conduct of the counter-insurgency war in the country,” she added.</span></p>
<p><span>The announcement was met with protests outside the presidential palace, organized by left-wing and progressive groups. </span></p>
<p><span>Austin has claimed that the new bases are not permanent basing
projects in the Philippines. But activists fear that increasing US
military access to the country will pave the way for a return to a time
when the US had an extensive military presence in the country, as it did
before 1992. The withdrawal of the bases, largely facilitated under the
dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos (father of the incumbent president),
was a large part of the democratization efforts in the Philippines.</span></p>
<p><span>“The matter of asserting Philippine sovereignty and sovereign
rights rests with the Filipinos, not any foreign power,” said Renato
Reyes, leader of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or Bayan. “It would be
foolish to believe that the US, with its own geopolitical interests, is
here to help us in asserting our sovereignty.”</span></p>
<p><span>In their statement, Bayan also warned that the expansion of
EDCA sites might trigger more tension in the region. “Filipinos must not
allow our country to be used as a staging ground for any US military
intervention in the region.”</span></p>
<p><span>“The US is engaged in provocations with China using the issue
of Taiwan. Allowing US use of our facilities will drag us into this
conflict which is not aligned with our national interests,” the group
said.</span></p>
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