The Marcos puppet regime placed the country’s foreign policy and security under full foreign control and decision when it entered into a trilateral military and economic alliance last week with the imperialist US and its imperialist partner Japan.

Summoned by his master in Washington DC, Marcos fully shackled the Philippines to the “ironclad commitment” of the US to “defend” the Philippines should it be attacked by any foreign force, in clear referrence to China which the alliance jointly condemned for its “aggressive behavior” in the South China Sea.

The US-Japan-Philippines alliance is essentially a military alliance that clearly serves the US geopolitical strategy of encircling China and containing its growing economic and military power. It is part of the US plan to station its military forces in the so-called “first-island chain” of islands and countries closest to China.

To firmly bind the Philippines to this alliance, the US and Japan declared plans to invest in the country’s existing infrastructure projects such as the Subic-Batangas railway system, as well as the Mindanao Railway, which were previously contracted to the Chinese government and corporations. The US is also seizing the opportunity to further expand investments by American companies to import minerals, increase exports of liquified natural gas, and promote the sales of nuclear plants. Similarly, Japan is using the opportunity to increase investment in projects and programs, including in the transport sector, for the benefit of Japan’s large corporations.

By formally joining the US-Japan alliance, Marcos is further closing the door to peaceful means of resolving tensions between the Philippines and China. What should be a non-antagonistic conflict is becoming antagonistic as Marcos paves the way for the expansion of US military forces in the country, which is pushing China to further increase its military presence in the South China Sea and Philippine waters.

The trilateral alliance between the US, Japan and the Philippines was formed just days before the biggest ever Balikatan 2024 war exercises. For more than a month now, some 11,000 American troops and their warships, planes, tanks, jet fighters and other US weapons and equipment have been swarming the country, causing widespread restlessness. This is part of more than 500 training exercises by US military forces combined with AFP personnel.

Overflights and sea patrols in Philippine airspace and waters are being conducted left and right, with the aim of training the US military to use the country as a battlefield. US military forces will concentrate their combat training on the northern part of the Philippines, particularly in the Batanes islands, which are closest to Taiwan. The US has long called for Taiwan’s secession from China in order to provoke its imperialist rival.

The US uses its military bases within the AFP camps under the EDCA, as well as various facilities. The US wants to expand these with its plan to provide $128 million in the next year. With the proposed five-year $2.5 billion or ₱67.5 billion military aid to the AFP, the US also plans to increase the deployment of its weapons in the Philippines, and make the counter-revolutionary war more brutal and bloody, so that it can fully utilize the AFP in the name of “external defense”.

Goaded by American advisers, the Marcos regime and its coastguard have been carrying out “supply missions” to the BRP Sierra Madre in the Ayungin Shoal, in direct violation of previous agreements made by the Duterte regime, which had bowed to China’s claim to most of the South China Sea, including Philippine waters. This is coupled with US provocations over Taiwan. These are aimed at pushing China to become more aggressive and to make the mistake of using armed force against the Philippines or Taiwan, to justify US armed intervention under the guise of “defense.”

By surrendering Philippine sovereignty, binding its foreign policy to the geopolitical strategy and military operations of the US, and using the country as cannon fodder in the US-China inter-imperialist conflict, the Marcos regime is jeopardizing the country’s security and exposing it to the possibility of an outbreak of war. When this happens, the Filipino people will surely face great disasters and suffering.

The Filipino people should unite and fight for the country’s sov-ereignty and security. They must promote genuine love for the country and peace, and oppose US war preparations and provocations, and Philippine involvement in them.

Demand the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from the country’s land and seas, the dismantling of military bases and the abrogation of treaties that favor the US and trample on the country’s independence. In accordance with the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes in foreign affairs, Filipinos must push for the opening of all peaceful avenues to defend the interests of the Philippines in its conflicts with China, call for nego-
tiations and international diplomacy as long as it takes to promote the national interest without resorting to war.

The subservience of the Marcos regime and increasing trampling of Philippine freedom by US imperialism underline the need to further advance the revolutionary struggle for national democracy. Only the achievement of genuine freedom will save the country from any threat of inter-imperialist war, and put it on the path of true peace and prosperity.