U.S.-Philippines Visiting
Forces Agreement
People's Forces Not Diverted
March in Manila, Philippines, on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2019,
part of ongoing fight
of the people against the brutal Duterte regime.
On February 11, President Rodrigo Duterte of the
Philippines informed the U.S. government that he is terminating
the Visiting Forces Agreement signed between the
Philippines and the U.S. in 1999. Media reports speculate that he
took this action in response to the U.S. government cancelling
the travel visa for Senator Ronald de la Rosa, one of Duterte's
cronies and the former head of the Philippine National Police, who
is responsible for executing Duterte's so-called "war on drugs,"
under which an estimated 30,000 people have been killed and a
reign of terror perpetrated targeting progressive people and
their mass organizations.
Philippine revolutionary and patriotic forces have
since day one demanded the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement
and
other unequal
treaties, and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from
Philippine territory.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines
(NDFP) notes
that the Visiting Forces Agreement is an affront to the sovereignty of
the Philippines.
"These unequal treaties allow U.S. military forces to control the
security and intelligence apparatuses of the Manila government,
to maintain secret facilities and stockpile weapons on Philippine
territory, as well as to commit crimes against the Filipino
people, including rape and murder," the NDFP underscores.
The Visiting Forces Agreement is part of the
U.S.-Philippines Mutual
Defence Treaty
of 1951 and the 2014 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement which
enables the U.S. to carry out joint military exercises with the
Philippines military and assist the Philippine state in
repression of the people and the national liberation struggle
being waged by the New People's Army under the leadership of the
Communist Party of the Philippines.
The Visiting Forces Agreement is the
Philippine-U.S. version of a
Status of Forces
Agreement (SOFA) which the U.S. has concluded with more than 100
countries around the world. Such agreements are instruments of
U.S. occupation and impunity, and enable the U.S. to place troops and
weapons in
countries around the world, such as in south Korea where it has
THAAD missiles and other weapons, 28,500 U.S. troops and military bases
to
threaten the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and
China.
Jose Maria Sison, the Chief Consultant of the NDFP
notes that it will take six
months before the withdrawal from the Visiting Forces Agreement takes
effect and many
things can happen between now and then. He says that
there are many in the leadership of the Philippines Armed Forces
who were trained in the U.S. and who are paid agents of the CIA
and U.S. secret service who have a vested interest in maintaining
the Visiting Forces Agreement with the U.S. and who will be told to
oppose Duterte
because the agreement is vital to U.S. hegemonic interests in the
Philippines, East and South East Asia, and the world.
The fighting people of the Philippines have their
own long
experience with the U.S. imperialists. In the civil war that they
are waging against the Philippine state -- which defends the private
interests of the rich local capitalists and landlords and gives carte
blanche access
to foreign
monopolies, including
Canadian mining companies and others to rape and pillage the
people and resources of the Philippines -- they have kept the
initiative in their hands. They are waging armed struggle with
the
New People's Army under the seasoned leadership of the Communist Party
of the Philippines to rid their islands of the domination of
U.S.
imperialism and its military and all foreign interests that exploit and
oppress their peoples. They will not be diverted by the shenanigans of
Duterte who is caught in the web of U.S. and other big power
manoeuvring for geopolitical control of the region for their own narrow
interests.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 6 - February 29, 2020
Article Link:
U.S.-Philippines Visiting
Forces Agreement: People's Forces Not Diverted
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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