cHePaY

A Detrimental Accord

By: Cherry V. Tubes

 Upon the ratification by the
Philippine Senate, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) became effective last
May 27, 1999. This bilateral agreement between the

Philippines

and the

United States

aims to promote the interoperability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and the US Forces under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the two
countries.

 “The VFA is mutually beneficial and
strengthens the Philippine-US security relationship through military assistance,
advice and training,” Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo
stated.

 With this being said, it is evident
that there is a military intervention from the

US

to the

Philippines

.

A lousy agreement?

 In an article entitled, “What’s
wrong with the Visiting Forces Agreement?” by Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, Professor
of Political Science in the University of the

Philippines

, VFA has been described
as a lousy document because it suffers from many flaws. Among those are the
following: First, it is an affront to the Constitution. Second, it grants
extraterritorial rights to Americans. And third, it can involve the country in
unnecessary international conflicts.

 VFA affronts the constitution
because it violates a number of laws in it. One of those is the one written in
1987 Constitution (Art. II, Sec. which states that “The Philippines,
consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom
from nuclear weapons in its territory.” In the existence of VFA, the country is
not guaranteed of its right to inspect every

US

nuclear-capable aircraft and
naval vessel that they are not carrying any nuclear weapons.

 In the issue of extraterritoriality,
the

Philippines

,
as a sovereign nation subjects everybody in its laws. Its government must have
full jurisdiction over any person – citizen of visiting alien – who commits a
crime in its territory. But because of VFA, the country is subtly obliged to
abdicate its rights with respect to American soldiers and civilians.

 It is also probable that the

Philippines

might be involved in unnecessary international conflicts. This could happen
because the VFA talks of activities involving American and Filipino troops, but
these “activities” were not clearly defined. By leaving the term “activities”
vague, the VFA allows the American to undertake any kinds of military
operations based in the

Philippines

.
Meaning, it could launch missiles anytime against neighboring countries that
could cause us to have conflicts even to our allies. If this thing so happened,
we will be left unprotected for the VFA does not oblige the

US

to come to
our side in case of conflict with a third party. It is just an implementing
agreement to the MDT, which makes things worse. The MDT is a neo-colonial
instrument designed to keep us on the American side in the cold war.

Costly than beneficial

 True indeed that the US, through
VFA, has provided the country not only military assistance and trainings, but
also livelihood enhancement programs, free medical and dental services, renovations
of schools and other kinds of social help during the series of joint military
exercises.

 On the other hand, if we are going
to compare the cost that it is giving the country to the benefits that it is
providing, it is obvious that the former is greater than the latter. VFA indeed
costs more disadvantages than advantages.

 It is an undeniable fact that the

US

is just
using all the Filipinos through the VFA. And it is so frustrating that the
government is allowing these things to happen. Moreover, while the Americans
may have “good intentions,” we must realize that they are not that fool to
extend help without getting much in return.

Resources:

www.philsol.nl/A99a/VFA-Nemenzo-1.htm

www.manila.usembassy.gov

On the Hands of an Imperialist

By: Cherry V. Tubes

After the September 11 attacks, the

United States of America

started its so-called “war against terror,” which in turn created a pretext for governments like the

Philippines

, to extend and justify the use of national security laws and measures to suppress movements for democracy and human rights. Our country has indeed become the partner of the

US

in its modern imperialism.

According to Dr. Roland Simbulan on his article on “The Nature of Modern Imperialism,” state terror has long been used in the

Third World

to fight what governments have unilaterally declared as “terror.” Wars and counter-insurgency have long been pursed as a strategy against “terrorism” in the

Third World

and the war against “terrorism” has always been made as an excuse by states to promote militarists and authoritarian dictatorships supporting Western expansionist, strategic and economic objectives. ¹

Unfortunately, this is exactly what the

US

is doing in the

Philippines

. It not only resorts to the control of its transnational capital and military forces, but also engaged in defining its enemy as all those who opposed to or are critical of its imperial globalization.

When and how did it all began?

As everyone of us know, the

Philippines

had been colonized by the

US

from 1900-1940. During that colonization, it had inculcated great influence in the minds of every Filipino. That is the reason why since the Marcos regime until the present administration, our country has been dependent to its imperialist – the

US

.

More than that, during the American colonization, it had enforced in the

Philippines

some national security laws that suppress the democratic aspirations of the people. Among those laws are the Brigandage Act and Sedition Law that targeted Filipino freedom fighters and those advocating independence.²

If we will come to think of it, those colonial legislations paved the way for the “intensified insurgencies” nowadays, resulting in various massacres, extra-judicial killings, disappearances, detention without trial and sham trials of a number of nationalists and leftist organizations of the poor, such as peasant movements and trade unions.

The so-called “partners in terror”

In one of Bayan Movement’s article, it mentioned that the

United States

government has not named the

Philippines

as its “second front” in its global war on terror for nothing. The

US

considers the

Philippines

important for its economic, military, and geo-political interests in Asia.³ True indeed that we are being used by the

US

to achieve its goal of being a global imperialist.

“The

United States

and the

Philippines

are close partners in the international war on terrorism,” said

America

’s top intelligence official, John Negroponte in his visit to the

Philippines

in December 2005.

With this statement, he declared the country as one of the priority targets of the

Counter

Terrorism

Center

. Because of this, it has been evident that for the past years of President Arroyo’s administration, efforts to crush revolutionary and leftist organizations labeled by the

US

as “terrorists groups” have been made.

There have been an alarming number of human rights victims because of this “war against terror.”

In line with the “partnership,” the total

US

military assistance to the

Philippines

rose from US$38 million in 2001 to US$114 million in 2003. This makes the

Philippines

the fourth largest recipient of

US

foreign military assistance.⁴

It’s so frustrating that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) remains to be a

US

’s substitute army. For many decades now, we can not deny the fact that it has been dependent to the

US

for military aid and training.

A continuing terror

Part of the

US

imperialism in the

Philippines

is the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). This agreement allows the unrestricted entry of US troops in the guise of war exercises.

In effect, the

US

is having covert operations in the

Philippines

. It is highly possible that the American forces are involved in the actual intelligence, psywar and actual operations of the AFP, which is against the Philippine Constitution.

The government’s approval to the

US

’s intervention to our military operations only shows that the present administration doesn’t have enough confidence in the capability of the AFP.

Not only that, the said agreement grants extraterritorial rights to the Americans over the

Philippines

. This means that the VFA cunningly obliges us to abdicate our rights as a sovereign nation with respect to American soldiers and civilians who come here in connection with some undefined military activities.

What would happen now to our constitutional rights?

The real war

In responding to all the threats in national security, the wellbeing of the ordinary people is often set aside and neglected. The government is continuously focusing on the

US

’s military aid without realizing its “real” objectives on its “war against terrorism.” There is no mention of the “terrorism of poverty,” which in fact kills more people in any war.

Like what the Secretary General of the Philippine

Alliance

of Human Rights Advocates,

Santos

A. Lamban, said in a press release, “we, as a sovereign nation must not let foreign powers meddle in our national affairs. We must not let the American’s freely to export their ‘war against terrorism’ in our country.”⁵ Let us not be a

US

imperial forever.

Resources:

¹ The Nature of Modern Imperialism by Dr. Roland Simbulan, www.forum.up.edu.ph

² The Nature of Modern Imperialism by Dr. Roland Simbulan, www.forum.up.edu.ph

³ www.bayan.ph

⁴ www.bayan.ph

⁵ On the Participation of US troops in Military Operations against the ASG, Press Statement, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)