“Peace and justice for Jennifer and the Filipino nation cannot be realized under a framework of unequal power relations between the United States and the Philippines.”
By DEE AYROSO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Prominent personalities and progressive groups in the US have joined the call to scrap onerous PH-US defense agreements, but the Aquino administration is unmoved.
An open letter calling on both the US and Philippine governments to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) was signed by Noam Chomsky, institute professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ex-US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and 2008 Green Party Presidential Nominee, and former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
The letter was initiated by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP-USA). Dated Nov. 10, a month after the brutal slay of Filipina transgender Jennifer Laude, it also called for the transfer to Philippine custody of the main suspect, US Marine Pvt. 1st Class Joseph Scott Pemberton who remains under US custody at a US facility in Camp Aguinaldo.
“Peace and justice for Jennifer and the Filipino nation cannot be realized under a framework of unequal power relations between the United States and the Philippines. It can only be genuinely realized under a framework of mutual respect, mutual benefit, non-interference, and respect for national sovereignty,” said the letter addressed to Pres. Aquino and US Pres. Barack Obama.
Among other signatories were leaders of church, migrant workers, human rights and peace advocate groups.
The letter is however, likely to be ignored, as Pres. Aquino himself had said that the Philippines needs its military agreements with the US in many ways.
No agreements
“I firmly believe that we need this EDCA. We need the Mutual Defense Treaty,” Pres. Aquino said during the presidential annual forum of the Foreign Correspondents of the Phils. (Focap) on Oct 22.
“We need this to address challenges that we are facing today not just on political tensions, potential military conflicts, issues about territories, but even in terms of humanitarian assistance, the ability to be able to respond to changes being brought about by global climate change – given our limitations,” he said.
The president further counted the ways: “The ability to maintain communications, the ability to be able to transport people and goods here and there at very adverse conditions, the ability to be able to know what is happening in the ground anywhere in the country. All of these will be assisted by our participation in both the treaty, the VFA, EDCA.”
Anti-US bases expert Dr. Roland Simbulan, however, said that cooperation and assistance can still happen between countries even without a defense agreement.
“Even without VFA or Edca, we can still engage in these activities, like joint exercises with the US and other countries,” Simbulan said.
“With other countries, we have these kinds of activities, although limited. But we don’t give them this kind of special treatment. If they kill somebody, they will be subjected (to Philippine laws), like any foreign tourist,” Simbulan said.
He cited technical trainings on disaster preparedness given by the Japanese, which did not require a defense agreement or special treatment for foreigners.
Simbulan said that under the VFA and Edca, US troops get special treatment, which undermines Philippine sovereignty, like in the case of Pemberton who remains under US custody. Simbulan said the Laude murder and other cases involving US servicemen “are the very reasons why we must abrogate Edca and VFA.”
“Visiting foreign troops who come here on training or joint exercise, why don’t we treat them the way we treat other foreigners or tourists? So that when they violate our laws, they are subjected to our laws,” Simbulan said.
Simbulan feared that crimes and other incidents of abuses by US servicemen like the murder of Jennifer Laude would likely be repeated because of the growing number of US troops under the US-PH defense agreements. “Under the VFA and Edca, more and more US forces will be coming here.”
Long war
Why can’t America be a good friend to the Philippines without a military agreement?
Global expert Prof. Michel Chossudovsky said it’s because America’s formation of military alliances is part of its global military strategy.
“There is only one war, it’s called ‘America’s Long War,’” said Chossudovsky. He said this war is “a sequence of military interventions and covert operations” all over the world that has been carried out by Pentagon for more than a decade.
Chossudovsky, who is an award-winning Canadian author and professor at the University of Ottawa, spoke at a roundtable discussion held on Oct. 14 at the University of the Philippines Asian Center in Quezon City. He is also the editor of the top-ranked website Centre for Research on Globalization, and a member of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission.
Chossudovsky said the US has formed an “encirclement of China” in its military alliances with the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore – most of which were “victims of US war crimes.”
“There is a pattern, that countries decimated and destroyed in wars of liberations .. are now allies of the US and used to wage a war on China,” said Chossudovsky. In the Philippines, the “benevolent assimilation” that was the Fil-American war killed one-third of the Philippine population.
Because of these defense agreements, Chossudovsky said the US is also creating divisions between these countries, intensifying territorial disputes which “could have been resolved in normal diplomatic process between countries.”
“And the US has always applied as technique or part of its foreign policy agenda to (to have its allies) wage its war on its behalf.
These countries are also made to support America’s troops overseas, aside from being consumers of weapons and war vehicles manufactured by the US industrial-military complex.
“It’s sucking the blood of those countries, at the expense of their taxpayers,” he said.
“The US will build its hegemony using the budget of its allies,” he said, adding that the same mechanism is applied in South Korea and other countries where the US has military bases.
In South Korea, Chossudovsky said that “a three-star general can override President Parks on overseeing (US) troops that are being funded by South Korea.”
The 1966 Status of the US Armed Forces in Korea states that:
“It is agreed that in the event of an emergency, the United States armed forces shall be authorized to take such measures in the vicinity of the facilities and areas as may be necessary to provide for their safeguarding and control.”
Chossudovsky said the global military strategy of the US and its allies is bringing us closer to a nuclear war, as they target Russia and China. “If you confront Russia and China, the endgame is World War III,” he said. 
Philippines is a puppet of U.S. too bad. But no worries, U.S. is a puppet of Israel.