Filipinos Hold Month-Long Demonstrations Against U.S.-Led Balikatan 2026 War Exercises
Manila, May 7, 2026
Filipinos organized continuous actions against the Balikatan 2026 U.S.-Philippines Joint Military exercises, the largest to date, held from April 20 to May 8. Broad sections of the Filipino people condemned the deepening militarization of their country under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., opposing the Philippines being used as a forward launching pad for U.S. aggression and occupation in the region.
Balikatan 2026 involved more than 17,000 troops in aggressive war preparations under U.S. command. Besides U.S. and Filipino troops, armed forces from Australia, Japan, France, Canada, New Zealand and other countries participated in live drills near the South China Sea and in the north of the Philippine island Luzon.
The revolutionary mass organization Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) denounced the war exercises and particularly the displacement of fishers and farmers while the war exercises were going on. Bayan condemned the live-firing of a U.S. Tomahawk missile that travelled approximately 630 kilometres from Tacloban City to Nueva Ecija, noting that the missile carried a warhead weighing around 450 kilograms and passed over several civilian communities during the exercise.
"We reject war as an instrument of foreign policy," Bayan reiterated. "The increasing U.S. military presence and provocative war exercises seriously undermine efforts toward genuine peace and regional cooperation."
Progressive, workers', students' and environmental organizations also called for an end to joint military agreements. These include the Visiting Forces Agreements between the Philippines and the U.S., Canada and other countries and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which expand the presence of the U.S. military and other foreign forces in the Philippines, creating insecurity and instability for the people and causing destruction of the natural environment.
On May 7, outside Camp Aguinaldo, the general headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, members of Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment and other progressive groups denounced Balikatan and the plunder of the country's natural resources to serve U.S. strategic interests.
They condemned the expansion of the military partnership between the Philippines and the U.S. and recent agreements on critical minerals and mining. Among these are the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Philippine governments on cooperation on critical minerals and the Pax Silica initiative that would lead to the further plunder of the Philippines' natural resources, impoverishment of the people, displacement of the Indigenous Peoples from their lands and destruction of the natural environment.
They demanded that the Balikatan military exercises be scrapped and all U.S. and foreign military withdraw from the Philippines.
(With files from Bulatlat. Photos: Kilusang Uno Mayo, Bulatlat)
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 5 - May 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/MS56058.HTM
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