Editorial:
Resist the rapidly escalating US armed intervention in the country

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The latest developments and Malaca�ang pronouncements offer further proof of rapidly escalating levels of US military intervention and the importance of advancing ever thoroughly the broad anti-interventionist movement.

On June 3, the GRP and the US through Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz agreed to allow American troops participating in Balikatan 02-1 join AFP company-level operations and be deployed outside Basilan � including the Zamboanga Peninsula and other areas where clashes between the AFP and the Abu Sayyaf bandits have actually occurred.According to Wolfowitz, it would be a mistake to focus attention only on one island. Wolfowitz brazenly expressed the US� openness to involve itself in the Philippines beyond the conduct of "military training exercises".

Wolfowitz also strongly suggested extending the presence of American troops "training Filipino soldiers" in Mindanao. Macapagal-Arroyo�s government has said that it was open to the suggestion. National Security Adviser Roilo Golez has likewise declared that there was no need to amend the Terms of Reference to extend the presence of American soldiers in the country.

In this regard, the US through Wolfowitz, has also been pushing Macapagal-Arroyo to sign the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), saying that this would enable the US and the Philippines to begin new cooperative measures in the campaign against terrorism in the country and in Southeast Asia. This is in exchange for more US military aid for the AFP.

The MLSA�s approval will grant the US the right to use any facility anywhere in the country, whenever and however long it wants to, for its military forces. It will also have the right to set up facilities in the country for arms storage.

Such developments have made it ever clearer that the US is escalating and accelerating the expansion and permanent presence of its armed forces in the Philippines. As time goes by, there is an ever-growing threat that AFP and American troops will launch joint military operations against the national-democratic revolutionary movement.

The death of Abu Sayyaf captives Martin Burnham and Ediborah Yap in a failed rescue operation on June 7 in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte and the recovery of the remaining captive, Gracia Burnham, will be used by the US and the Macapagal-Arroyo regime to go all-out in launching the brutal joint operations of US and AFP troops in Mindanao and push for further US military intervention in the country. In view of these developments, Macapagal-Arroyo declared that the "war against poverty and terrorism" that used to be focused only on pursuing the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and Zamboanga del Norte, will no longer be limited to these areas but will encompass other areas of the country.

Even as the revolutionary movement and the people prepare for the growing threat of US armed aggression, we must thoroughly arouse, organize and mobilize the people against imperialist intervention. The revolutionary forces and the people must exert all effort to thwart and resist worsening US intervention, expel all occupation troops and overthrow the Macapagal-Arroyo regime for its thoroughgoing conspiracy with the US to ravage the country�s sovereignty.

June 2002
English Edition

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