US Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) secretary Pete Hegseth announced on October 31 the establishment of the US “Task Force Philippines” at the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-Plus in Malaysia. This task force will consist of 60 elements from the US Pacific Fleet and will be led by an American general. It expands on the operations of the US Task Force Ayungin based in Palawan, which currently directs the operations of Philippines forces in confrontations with Chinese vessels in the disputed reefs.

Hegseth announced the Task Force Philippines after ASEAN rejected his proposal to form a “shared maritime domain awareness program” that would centralize US intelligence data against China. The countries snubbed his proposal despite his offer of advanced drone technology, including unmanned aerial and maritime vehicles, in exchange for cooperation.

Hegseth then formed only an “Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense Cooperation Council,” along with his loyal puppet Gilbert Teodoro and the defense secretaries of Australia and Japan, during their meeting in Malaysia on November 1. There is nothing new in this council since the four countries already maintain multi-layered “cooperation” in the form of bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral military agreements.

Imperialist agenda panderer

Prior to the announcement, Philippine neighboring countries expressed concern over Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s speech at ASEAN on October 28, where he urged for “enhanced defense cooperation” with Japan and the US against the “serious threat of Chinese aggression” in the region.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned not to “yield to external forces” to resolve internal conflicts. Ibrahim said both compulsion and unrest must be avoided for the sake of regional stability. He encouraged nations to resolve issues through dialogue, cooperation, and peaceful means in accordance with ASEAN principles. Indonesia, Laos, and Cambodia voiced concern over the escalating maritime tensions caused by Marcos’ aggressive confrontation with China.

AFP commander Romeo Brawner recently flaunted the Typhon Missile System’s capability to “reach China.” The said missile system is stationed in the northern part of Luzon, near Taiwan. This constitutes an offensive posture and US interference in the internal affairs of Taiwan and China.

Base of the imperialist war machinery

With its utterly subservient state, the Philippines is the only Southeast Asian country that allows the long-term basing of foreign troops and weapons on its land and seas. It is also the only one in the region holding formal military agreements with the US, such as the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. As a sign of extreme servility, the AFP created the Strategic Command to unify its various branches, further easing the flow of US command within it.

In the coming months, the Marcos regime will allow not only American troops to base in the Philippines. Major US allies Japan and Australia are already negotiating to establish their own bases and storage facilities in the country. In addition to the US, four countries are now permitted to send troops, equipment, and vehicles under the established visiting forces agreements (VFA). The latest of these is the VFA with Canada, signed only on November 2.

The presence of foreign troops in the country is continuing and alternating in the form of relentless war games, multilateral maritime exercises, “experience sharing,” and civil-military operations. They even exploit the successive disasters suffered by Filipinos, such as earthquakes and floods, to normalize their presence and intervention in the country’s internal affairs.