The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) called on the Filipino people to strongly denounce the transit of the US Carrier Strike Group (CSG) One in the Surigao Strait between Leyte and Mindanao in the last week of December 2024. It brazenly crossed the Philippines’ sovereign waters from the Pacific Ocean to the West Philippine Sea.

The US naval formation, led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, is a monster war machine capable of carrying a large nuclear arsenal. It was accompanied by three additional warships.

Meanwhile, plans revealed by the AFP and the Department of National Defense to purchase the Typhon Mid-range Capability (MRC) missile system from the US is blatant kowtowing to US imperialism. In April 2024, the Typhon missile system was positioned by the US in the northern part of Luzon, and used in the Balikatan war games. It has yet to be removed.

Following this, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers last January 2 pushed anew for building an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement site in his province. He said the province needs it because the “eastern part of the country is vulnerable to smugglers and foreign incursions.”

Party information officer Marco Valbuena said Marcos’ servility to its US imperialist master is unparalleled in its complicity in this affront to Philippine sovereignty. “It shows how the country is being used as a launching pad for US operations to flex its muscles in the Pacific and as a pawn in the US’ heightening of inter-imperialist tensions,” he said.