Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Panay and its organizations condemned the Inter-Agency Territorial Defense Operations Exercise (ITDOEx) Pag-ugyon 2026 war games launched in Iloilo on June 16–17. The war games is carried out under the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC), framed in the US imperialism’s “archipelagic defense strategy” against its rival China.

The 301st IBde with the participation of the Iloilo local government and various civilian agencies led the ITDOEx Pag-ugyon 2026. Over 1,000 individuals joined the activities. The local government authorized the war games through Executive Order 2025-111 (An Order Instituting the Provincial Community Defense Action for MoRProGRes Iloilo – Kapayapaan, Kaayusan at Katatagan Tungo sa Kaunlaran ng Bagong Pilipinas) by Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr.

The ITDOEx war games operate under the phrase “civil-military cooperation” during severe crises and disasters. They claimed to prepare responses to external threats including coastal incursions, counter-infiltration and missile attack, and complex disasters and crises.

The ITDOEx conducted three major scenarios and activities in the coastal towns of Miag-ao and San Joaquin. Training for managing “civilian spillover” was held on June 16 in the barangays of Sapa and Kirayan Norte in Miag-ao. That afternoon, a “missile attack response” was rehearsed in Barangay Igtuba. A “simulated coastal defense” and counter-infiltration operations were carried out on June 17 in the barangays of Igcondao and Cata-an in San Joaquin.

“For Bayan-Panay and all freedom-loving Panayanons, such war simulations prepare the country for a devastating war designed and instigated by our neocolonial oppressor, the United States, in its bid to contain the rise of China,” Bayan-Panay said. The group added that US imperialism takes advantage of Philippine assertion of rights in the West Philippine Sea to deepen its foothold over our territory, control maritime routes, and plunder our natural resources.

“By holding war simulations, the island of Panay and the Philippines in general risk being drawn into an imperialist conflict where ordinary citizens become the collateral damage,” it said. The group added that the war games condition Filipinos to believe the only way to defend the country’s rights in the West Philippine Sea is by participating in the war the US is provoking against China.

The ITDOEx war games also disrupted the livelihoods of farmers and fisherfolk on the island. According to Paghugpong sang mga Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras (Pamanggas, or Unity of Farmers in Panay and Guimaras), the war games disrupted farmers’ work in the fields and fishers’ trips to sea, especially when “no sail zones” were imposed in some areas.

The group said the US-Marcos regime not only endangers the Panay masses but also blatantly deprives them of decent livelihoods. The regime is wasting public funds on war games amid hunger, poverty and a severe economic crisis in the country.

Youth and student groups in Panay also condemned the ITDOEx. Twelve alliances and organizations issued a joint statement denouncing the activity. They specifically criticized the AFP’s use of Iloilo Science and Technology University–Miagao as a helicopter landing site and an evacuation center for the war simulation. Students said the military intrusion into the university seriously violated International Humanitarian Law (Rules 22–24) and Article X of Republic Act 7610, which both prohibit using schools as military facilities.

In the end, Bayan-Panay and progressive organizations called on the people to reject the ITDOEx and defend the Philippines’ national sovereignty by demanding the scrapping of unequal military agreements, expelling American troops, and dismantling US military bases in the country.