The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) joins the Filipino people in strongly condemning the Philippine Senate for railroading the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Reciprocal Access Agreement which completely blindsided the Filipino people.

The Party condemns the Marcos regime for signing the Japan-Philippines RAA which will pave the way for the entry of large numbers of Japanese military forces in the Philippines and for the prepositioning of their war vessels and weapons in the country.

The RAA further erodes and tramples on Philippine national sovereignty. By signing the agreement, Marcos completely took away the Philippines’ capacity to exercise an independent foreign policy. It firmly binds the county into the US Indo-Pacific Strategy, under which Japan plays an important role as a junior imperialist power in the US plan to contain and counter China.

With the RAA, Marcos is practically erasing from the nation’s memory the brutal history of colonial occupation and abuses perpetrated by Japanese fascist troops against the Filipino people.

Imperialist Japan is bound to take advantage of the RAA to turn the Philippines into its launching pad for international naval operations, which are becoming increasingly aggressive against China.

The Filipino people must oppose the Japan-Philippines RAA and demand its abrogation. Instead of promoting peace in the South China Sea, the military agreement will only fuel further armed tensions and drag the country further into inter-imperialist conflicts.