The permanent stationing of yet another US military unit in Philippine territory will be formalized at Balikatan 2025 to be held this April. This will be carried out without a formal treaty or Senate approval, violating what is stipulated in the reactionary constitution.

Like its other units that unconstitutionally remain in the Philippines, the US veils the permanent nature of its presence under the guise of “rotational” deployment of forces or the alternation of troops.

In March, the US 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) announced its plan to “debut” or inaugurate the new full Littoral Rotational Force-Luzon (LRF-Luzon) at Balikatan 2025. This coincides with the announcement that the US will deploy NMESIS and unmanned surface drones for US patrols in the seas.

The US Navy “littoral” units are forces that operate in the part of the sea closest to the shore, or the area submerged during high tide and visible during low tide. The MLR boasts of the unit as the “product of three years of training in the Philippine archipelago.”

The formation of the MLRs and their “rotational forces” is in line with changes in Marine Force Design, in which this force will establish “island-hopping forces” that will leap from island to island to “harass” warships and other “threats” in the Pacific. A similar unit is the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin based in Australia.

Although the new unit will reportedly be a “Luzon-wide force,” the LRF-Luzon is believed to focus on the Bashi Channel, a narrow body of water between Taiwan’s Lesser Orchid Island and Mavulis Island, the northernmost island of Batanes. This strait is called a “choke point” for US submarine operations and is crucial for US warships’ access to the South China Sea. Undersea cables essential for telecommunications that traverse all of South Asia are also laid here. During his visit at the end of March, Pete Hegseth said that American troops will use Mavulis Island as a “training ground” for US special military forces.

The LRF-Luzon is an instrument for the longstanding US objective to provoke war with China using its maritime dispute with China, and its strategic location in relation to Taiwan. The US has long considered Batanes as “key terrain” in the war it wants to spark against China. US and Philippine forces swarming the island using large and countless aircraft have held in recent years large, deafening, and disruptive “war exercises” on its once serene islands. The objective to provoke China through Taiwan is gaining new momentum under the guise of a “deterrence strategy” and “peace through strength” in Donald Trump’s second term.

Aside from LRF-Luzon, two more military units with “rotational” (permanent) US presence on Philippine soil have been made public. One is Task Force-Ayungin based in Palawan, and the other is Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines, established by the Americans in Mindanao during the Duterte regime.