Press Statement
May 27, 2017
Today is the 18th anniversary of the signing of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) which allows the US military to conduct a broad range of activities on Philippine soil. From 1999 onward, the US has used every possible pretext such as the so-called “war on terror”, disaster response, humanitarian assistance and non-conventional threats, to justify its permanent military presence in the country. Today, it will likely use the Maute/ISIS threat to justify the presence of US troops in Mindanao and the continued holding of Balikatan war games in the Philippines. Through its proxies in the AFP, the US will use the Maute/ISIS threat to make Duterte renege on his promise of removing foreign troops from Philippine soil.
Questions now arise as to the role of the US in the Marawi incident, considering that the US maintains a military facility in Marawi City inside an AFP camp. Questions arise as to the extent of US involvement in the AFP’s push to have Martial Law declared in Mindanao, at a time when Duterte was visiting Russia, and on the eve of peace talks with the NDFP.
Did the US have prior knowledge of the movements of the ASG/Maute group in Marawi? Did the US provide the initial intelligence that moved the AFP to undertake the military operation against Isnilon Japilon, which then escalated to the conflict that engulfed Marawi? What was the US role when the fighting broke out in the entire city? What information did they provide the AFP which may have been used by Duterte to impose Martial Law?
The US will never run out of reasons to interfere in our domestic affairs in order to advance its imperialist agenda in the region. We must continue to expose the US hand in the conflicts in this part of the world, at a time when contradictions in a multipolar world are intensifying and resistance to imperialism in advancing. We must expose and oppose the militarist and fascist agenda of the pro-US ultra-Right. This includes the further justifying US military intervention and sabotaging the peace talks with the NDFP.
http://www.bayan.ph/2017/05/27/us-role-in-marawi-incident-questioned/
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-New Patriotic Alliance) is the main Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-affiliated umbrella multisectoral front organization. The group routinely engages in propaganda campaigns designed to discredit the US military presence in the Philippines and to sow dissension and discord in RP-US relations.
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