MANILA, Philippines - Members of the militant group Bayan on Monday picketed in front of the Department of National Defense in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City to protest the opening of the annual Balikatan war games.
The yearly military exercises between the Philippine and US soldiers are conducted a week after the US and Philippine governments signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
Some 6,000 US and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) troops are expected to participate in the joint exercises. The war games also take place amid the brewing dispute in the West Philippine Sea between China and the Philippines.
"The Balikatan, like EDCA, does not benefit the Filipino people. Our AFP will not modernize just because we conduct war games with US forces. Our capacity to defend our territory against China will not be improved just because there are training exercises. It is silly that China is even being mentioned since the US has expressed its non-committal to defend the Philippines in the event of an armed confrontation with China,"Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said.
"What do we even get from these war games other than the violation of our sovereignty? If it’s even true that the AFP will modernize, this should have happened long ago, after so many of these annual war games since the VFA was approved in 1999. Yet here we are, our military still backward," he added.
He said that the US gains a platform for power projection in the region aimed at containing China.
The US gets to exercise with Filipino troops and take advantage of the tropical conditions to train in amphibious assault, jungle warfare and other forms of intervention. The US also gets to showcase its military hardware and entice prospective buyers abroad, Reyes cited.
He said that with the approval of the EDCA and the opening up of five AFP facilities to US forces, Balikatan war games will become a year-long event.
"The EDCA assures that thousands of US forces will be rotated in the Philippines. The Balikatan that takes place for 10 days will transform into the permanent stationing of troops all year round," he said.
He pointed out a report from the website Marine Corps Times where “experts say more Marines will likely rotate through the country under the new agreement, possibly even evolving to a semi-permanent and regular rotation like the one in Darwin, Australia.â€
"As it stands, the deal will give the U.S. greater access to Filipino ports, airfields and military bases. The rotational presence could, in effect, leave U.S. military assets and personnel on the ground in the Philippines for long periods if the missions are approved by the government in Manila," the Marine Corps Times website says.
"The US sees the EDCA as an opportunity for forward-basing of troops and equipment. They look at their presence here as being permanent. The EDCA, like the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement), will lead to the permanent presence of foreign troops in our country," Reyes said.