CPP/Ang Bayan: Balikatan 2017 commences under Duterte

Propaganda article from the English language edition of Ang Bayan posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines Website (May 21): Balikatan 2017 commences under Duterte

BALIKATAN 2017 pushed through last May 8-19 despite GRP President Rodrigo Duterte’s previous stance against it. “Despite declarations of an ‘independent foreign policy’ by the Duterte regime, US military presence in the country remains pervasive,” declared the Communist Party of the Philippines on the “Balikatan” joint military exercises between American and AFP soldiers.

The military exercises of the two armed forces were set to be held in the provinces of Samar, Panay, Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Aurora and Cagayan. This is the first Balikatan under the Duterte regime and among the scheduled 257 military exercises between the US and the AFP. The pro-US officials inside Duterte’s government prevailed to continue the military exercises contrary to the latter’s declarations last October 2016 that he will put an end to these.

Participating in the Balikatan are 2,600 American troops and more than 2,800 AFP soldiers carrying out so-called “humanitarian assistance and disaster response” and also exercises on “counter-terrorism” in the said provinces. These conceal the US military’s aim to more firmly establish foot-hold in the Philippines amid the Duterte regime’s efforts to establish closer military and economic links with China. Duterte shifted the “Balikatan” exercises on “territorial defense” and “maritime security” from the South China Sea in order not to provoke China.

However, the joint US and Philippine naval maneuvers like the one carried out in Calayan island in Cagayan last May 16, seek to reinforce US military presence in the Philippine eastern seaboard. At present, the AFP pushes for the construction of a naval base for the US in Casiguran, Aurora. This will reinforce the military facilities built by the US in Guiuan, Eastern Samar since 2013, and likewise in Nueva Ecija. These aim to impede China from its increasing presence in eastern Philippines or the Pacific Ocean.

US military bases and facilities are also being constructed in Clark and Subic, Palawan, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City and others. The Duterte regime has so far failed to carry out steps to abrogate several unequal military treaties between the Philippines and US. The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty all serve to further US military interventionism.

In any case, the “Balikatan” exercises, as well as China’s incursions into Philippine territory, are both violative of national sovereignty and will face firm opposition. Only a few weeks earlier, three Chinese naval ships docked at the Sasa Wharf in Davao City. This move by China, including its patrolling of Philippine territorial seas and building spree of military facilities in and around the Spratlys, are parallel to the projection of military might and extension of reach by rival imperialist US.

[Ang Bayan is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Ang Bayan is published in Pilipino, Bisaya, Hiligaynon, Waray and English. Download Ang Bayan from the Philippine Revolution Web Central at www.philippinerevolution.info.  Ang Bayan is published fortnightly by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines.]
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/ang_bayan/2017may21-balikatan-2017-commences-under-duterte/