The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Duterte regime for
publicly acting indifferent amid the intensified saber-rattling of the US and
China which raises military tensions and increases possibility of dragging the
Philippines into the middle of superpower armed conflict.

Duterte is guilty of at least two counts of “Noynoying” recently which amounted
to outright acts of surrendering Philippine national sovereignty. First, he
allowed at least 3,000 US soldiers, warships, jetfighters, drones and other
military equipment to conduct war games in Philippine territory in the recent
US-RP Balikatan exercises in direct violation and contempt of Philippine
sovereignty. In the name of “interoperability”, the US military makes use of the
AFP as pawns in US strategy of building and projecting military strength in the
South China Sea to control the trade routes and encircle China. Fearing the US
will stop providing military aid to his Oplan Kapayapaan and martial law
campaign of suppression, Duterte has made no moves to end the unequal military
treaties with the US including the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), the Visiting
Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)
which all give the US military extra-territorial rights, allow it to maintain
permanent military presence in the country, intervene in local domestic affairs
and make use of the Philippines as a military foothold to mount acts of
aggression in Asia and other regions.

Meanwhile, Duterte has refused to raise even a whimper against China’s
deployment of H-6K bomber planes which conducted exercises and simulated strikes
in the airspace in and around the Spratly Islands. This is his second recent act
of “Noynoying.” He has turned a blind eye to China’s outright incursions in
Philippine territories claiming fears of “inviting trouble”. He has allowed
China to trample on Philippine national sovereignty by his failure to act
against China’s construction of runways, hangars, ports and other military
facilities in areas within Philippine territorial waters. He is mortally afraid
of losing all the billions of dollars of promised China investments in the
country which he uses to bribe corrupt politicians and government officials to
ensure their loyalty.

The CPP reiterates its protests against US and China saber-rattling and
militarization over the South China Sea and the Philippines. Defense of
Philippine national sovereignty entails that the Filipino people demand an end
to US military presence in the country and a stop to Chinese military build-up
in the South China Sea and waters within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.

The CPP denounces the hypocrisy of the US government over the statement by the
US State Department criticizing China for “continued militarization” of the
South China Sea. The US imperialists, are in fact, at least equally liable if
not more guilty for militarizing the South China Sea where it has continuously
deployed its armada of aircraft carriers and littoral ships, where it flies
military drones non-stop and so on.

Without actually defending and promoting Philippine national sovereignty,
Duterte’s declarations of an “independent foreign policy” are mere rhetoric. The
Filipino people demand a genuine independent foreign policy which calls for
actively asserting peaceful co-existence and non-alignment–from China or the
US. On the one hand, the Filipino people call for the dismantling of all
military structures erected by China in the Spratly Islands.

More importantly, the Filipino people demand an end to all military treaties
with the US, for all US military troops and advisers to leave the country and
for all US military facilities to be dismantled. As long as the US military
enjoys extra-territorial rights in the country, the Philippines cannot claim
non-alignment. The presence of US military forces in the Philippines serve as
magnet that continuously attracts attacks by US adversaries and drags the
country to US imperialist conflicts.