The Philippine Online Chronicles

Militant groups today picketed the United States embassy in Manila to protest plans to allow more U.S. troops in the country.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in statement, "if we allow more US troops to enter our country, the entire archipelago will be transformed into one military outpost for US hegemonic interests."

US and Philippine governments held the second Bilateral Strategic Dialogue on January 26-27, 2012, in Washington, DC. The dialogue was co-chaired by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense
Peter Lavoy for the United States and Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Erlinda Basilio and Undersecretary of National Defense Pio Lorenzo Batino for the Republic of the Philippines. Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan chaired the working group on Rule of Law and Law Enforcement.

Higher-level talks between US Secretary of State Rodham Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Philippines' Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario, and Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin will take place this March at a joint ministerial meeting.

In a joint statement, both governments declared that the the dialogue provided an opportunity to consult and exchange views on a broad range of bilateral, regional, and global issues, reflecting our common values and interests.

Bayan said the negotiations between US and Philippine governments “aim to increase the deployment and the power-projection of the US in the Philippines and in the Asia-Pacific region.”

“They say that they will not bring back the US bases but the proposal aims for virtual basing just the same. They are decevingthe public when they say that US troops will be here on a temporary basis. That’s a big, fat lie,” Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. said.

The group warned that our country will be one big US military outpost and forward base in Southeast Asia. “We should remind the Aquino government that the US troops have been based in Mindanao for the last ten years. They are no longer visting troops on temporary missions. They are here permanently. They did that in Mindanao and they now plan to use the same strategy in other parts of the Philippines. They have not ruled out stationing US warships back in Subic. They may not set up formal bases but what they will be doing is virtual basing using Philippine facilities such as those in Subic,” Reyes said.

Bayan also called on the Philippine Senate to probe DFA officials on the status of the negotiations. The Senate has oversight on the implementation of the VFA.

For its part, militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) assailed the Aquino government for “cooking another onerous and one-sided” military agreement with the United States in accordance with “Pentagon’s priorities for the 21st Century.”

Last January 6, 2012, US President Barack Obama unveiled its administration's 10-year defense strategy “Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense” that is focused in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East.

The said blueprint that gives strategic guidance to the US' Department of Defense stated that “for the foreseeable future, the United States will continue to take an active approach to countering threats in South Asia and Middle East by monitoring the activities of non-state threats worldwide, working with allies and partners to establish control over ungoverned territories, and directly striking the most dangerous groups and individuals when necessary.”