The US conducts uninterrupted military operations in the Philippines under the cover of large-scale war games. After Balikatan 2026 ended on May 8, it immediately launched Salaknib 2 with 7,000 troops participating, including forces from Japan, Australia and New Zealand. These war games aim to hone troops for conducting counter-guerrilla operations in archipelagic conditions. Salaknib 2 ended on May 20, but the troops and equipment it used will remain for other war games until July.

Salaknib 2 trains primarily the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center-Exportable. It featured large-scale combat operations, small unit tactics, integrated live-fire exercises, night airborne assaults, missile firings, and forest fighting, all in “realistic scenarios.” As in Balikatan, many of these venues are concealed from the public and kept secret.

Expansion of dual-use facilities

Along with the war games, the US is expanding a network of civilian facilities it can use for military purposes. The latest includes clinching the rehabilitation project for Sangley Point International Airport, a civilian airport in Cavite. The US Trade and Development Agency announced on May 12 it will fund a study to transform the airport into a dual-use (civilian and military) facility. The US partners with the Virata family’s Cavitex Holdings, Inc.

Meanwhile, Marcos regime officials went to Jerusalem on May 1 to arrange investments by Israeli companies in the US “Golden Node” in New Clark City, Pampanga. This “Golden Node” will be established as a US “economic security zone” to serve as a weapons factory within the framework of Pax Silica. The entry and dominance of Israeli capital and technology here directly implicate the Marcos regime in the heinous genocidal wars and aggressions of the US and Israel in Palestine and the Middle East.