From GMA News (Apr 3, 2019): Balikatan exercises useless, waste of money, must be stopped —solon
Anakpawis Party-list Representative Ariel Casilao called for the end of Balikatan joint military exercises between Filipino and American soldiers as it is 'useless' and a 'waste of resources'.
In Divine Reyes' report on Super Radyo DzBB, Casilao said, "This annual Balikatan exercises, annually reminds us of how it is useless for the Filipino people as obviously, it failed to enable the armed forces to defend the national territory from foreign aggressors."
Since 1998, the yearly "Balikatan" has not improved the capability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to defend the country against Chinese "encroachment" in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the lawmaker said.
According to him, China has been building structures on some islands in the WPS since 1995 and Sino expansion activities in the disputed sea have continued to date.
Even the territorial waters of the island municipality of Pag-asa is now under Chinese control despite the Visiting Forces Agreement forged in 1998 with US, paving the way of the Balikatan exercises, Casilao said.
"Filipino taxpayers have paid $11.6 million or about P600 million for these missiles, but they are unused against foreign aggressors, to uphold national sovereignty and territory," he said, asserting that it is apparent that Balikatan exercises was never designed against foreign aggression, but for counter-insurgency and facilitation of US military intervention.
However, according to GMA News Online's interview with the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Chief of Public Affairs Noel Detroyato, the conflict with China is exactly why they train themselves because they train for any eventualities.
Detroyato emphasized that trainings and exercises are a big part of preparing soldiers for any possible security issue.
He said, "Resources are never wasted on training... Kasi for us hindi naman pang giyera lang to. We are also the country's first line of defense kapag may calamities and other eventualities."
"Preparation for calamities, anti-terrorism is never a waste of money. It must be a continuous training," Detroyato added.
This year's joint US-Philippine military drills began with humanitarian activities in mid-March. Proper military exercises were set from April 1 to 12, 2019.
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/690102/balikatan-exercises-useless-waste-of-money-must-be-stopped-solons/story/
No surprise here. Anakpawis is a Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) political front. This party-list political party was formed as a coalition of three CPP sectoral fronts: the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU-May One Movement), a radical labor front; the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-Peasant Movement of the Philippines), a peasant front; and the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY-Alliance of Urban Poor Organizations), representing the urban poor. All these groups toe the CPP propaganda line.
ReplyDeleteThe three groups, KMU, KMP, and KADAMAY, are members of the main CPP multisectoral umbrella front organization the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-New Patriotic Alliance).
Anakpawis is a member of the CPP-associated MAKABAYAN bloc in the Philippine House of Representatives. MAKABAYAN is a coalition of some 12 CPP-linked party-list political parties that pursue the political interests of the CPP and engage in anti-government/military propaganda/disinformation.