Manila, Philippines – We, Citizens Against US Wars of Aggression (CAUSA), vehemently condemn the existential threat posed by US-warmongering in the Eastern Hemisphere and the canine devotion of the Philippine state to the whims of US hegemony. We decry the Marcos-Duterte administration’s intensification of its support for Washington’s geopolitical strategy of expanding its influence across the Eurasian landmass and the Indian and Pacific Oceans at the expense of the lives of Filipinos and other Asians.
As we speak, there are now 9 Philippine bases to be freely used by American troops under US-Ph Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The Philippine government and military have also played host to military exercises including the biggest ever military exercise in April 2023, which saw an 18-day drill consisting of 17,000 troops – 5,000 Filipinos, 12,000 Americans, and 111 Australians. The Philippines has been fashioned into a “forward tripwire-state” which could transform the entire nation into a southern battlefront of impending war between the US and China over Taiwan.
There have even been shocking reports of the US deploying nuclear-armed submarines to the Korean Peninsula with these weapons of mass-destruction aimed directly at the People’s Republic of China. Humanity has not faced a calamitous threat such as this since the Cold War.
The US unveiled its Indo-Pacific Strategy last February 2023. It aims to create a “free and open Indo-Pacific” with the aim to uphold a “rules-based international order”. This rhetoric belies a desperate attempt to counteract the growing influence of Beijing in the Eurasia-Indo-Pacific strategic environment. IPS positions the Australia-United Kingdom-United States alliance (AUKUS) and Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) as core elements of this newly unified US-led regional security architecture that is suspected as the cutting edge of NATO’s expansion to Asia-Pacific. The Philippines is a de facto participant in this unfolding design because of its several defense and military agreements with Washington as well as a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with Australia.
Lest we forget, integral to US war and militarization is the trafficking and exploitation of girls and women, resulting in prostitution, rape, and death. Even worse, women and children are simply reduced to mere collateral damage during actual wars. The big US bases in the Philippines prior to their withdrawal in 1992 spawned a massive sex industry, and the new bases are likely to do so again. Japan, another close ally of the US, remains adamant in not recognizing its war crimes and obligations to victims of sexual slavery and military sexual violence during World War II. The US itself has still not paid reparations to Korean women who were converted into sex slaves for American troops during the Korean War.
We in CAUSA re-affirm the aspirations of governments in Asia and Africa at Bandung Conference of 1955 for peace, political self-determination, non-interference in internal affairs and mutual recognition and respect for equal sovereignty. We reiterate the spirit of the 1971 ASEAN Declaration of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality in recognizing the need for a nuclear-free world.
We in CAUSA believe, should the Philippines accept any invitation to join a US-led alliance of aggression, this would transform the defense forces of the country into integral military units operating under the US’s command and control. Every Filipino soldier, including students enlisted into the proposed Mandatory ROTC (MROTC) program, would become expendable pawns for the bottomless greed and ambition of the US Empire. Let us not allow our compatriots to be cannon-fodder for the US Empire!
Our alliance of citizens strongly advocates for an independent, non-aligned, anti-war foreign policy for our country, which has long suffered attacks on its sovereignty. We demand that our government act in the interest of our people rather than the military and economic interests and warlike designs of the US elite and military-industrial complex. Finally, we demand that the US government uphold its mandate to provide safety and security to its working class, instead of funneling their tax dollars to the US war machine, to its disastrous intervention and interference undermining sovereignty and democracy of nations, and to its blatant violations of human and democratic rights that stand in the way of its aggressive moves.
We call on all the masses of the Filipino people and the world to reject this doom-spiral of heightening military tension with its likely ending in nuclear war. Reject the narrative that increased militarization and war are our only options.! Resist the pro-war, pro-aggression, and anti-life propaganda! Demand a safe and just world for all of us and our children! No to WAR, yes to PEACE!!!
Scrap MDT, VFA, EDCA!
US Troops, Out Now!
Ban Weapons of Mass Destruction!
Resist AUKUS!
Resist Mandatory ROTC!
End US Wars of Aggression!
END RIMPAC, TALISMAN SABER, BALIKATAN and all War Exercises!