Progressive organizations in the Philippines and Japan strongly denounced the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) signed between the two countries on January 15. According to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), this “deepens the imperialist agenda in the Philippines.”

The ACSA extends the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), which allows the stationing of Japanese troops in the country.

This (ACSA) is not cooperation between countries with equal standing but a binding of the Philippines to Tokyo’s remilitarization and Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy that aims to encircle China,” Bayan said.

The Asia-Wide Campaign against US-Japanese Domination and Aggression of Asia (AWC) also condemned Japan’s intensifying militarism.

“The Japanese government should genuinely apologize and indemnify the victims of Japan’s occupation of the Philippines, not heighten militarization,” AWC said.

ACSA will allow Japan to deploy food, fuel, ammunition, and other logistics for its own forces stationed in the Philippines to participate in war games and other military activities under the guise of disaster response and humanitarian assistance. Besides ACSA, Japan plans to establish a General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with the Philippines.

Concurent with the ACSA signing, Japan granted the AFP a measly ₱341-million token Official Security Assistance or military aid, allocated for constructing boathouses for naval vessels. On top of this, Japan gave ₱617 million supposedly for developing telecommunications infrastructure in Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.