Letter to the Editor
10 April 2013
Before the formal announcement of the of Balikatan exercises 2013, US warships, drones and jetfighters had already been frequently visiting and freely strolling around the Philippine jurisdiction.
Last January 6, 2013, a farmer in Masbate was able to retrieve a crashed drone. The US embassy admitted that the US Navy is using it for reconnaissance operations and clandestine missions. No immediate action was made by the government. In fact, the AFP supported the US embassy and set an atmosphere that aimed to perpetuate USA's aggression.
The issue about the toxic waste discarded in Subic waters alerted the country, yet remained unresolved. The alarm heightened when the USS Guardian ran aground some 4,000 square meters of coral reefs in Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Sulu Sea which has long been declared a Wildlife Protected Area and a UNESCO heritage park.
Investigations were conducted but to guarantee if they're serious is still a question. Up to this day, there were no perpetrators brought to the bars of justice. Justice is elusive to the affected residents in Subic and to Ahbam Juhurin, the fisherman who died during the routine maritime activity of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines and Philippine security forces in Basilan. Indeed, the Aquino regime has no backbone in asserting the country's sovereignty, in protecting the country's patrimony and in providing security for the people.
As of this moment, despite the intense friction between North Korea and US-backed South Korea, Aquino never put a second thought in participating in Balikatan exercise that permitted US troops with their weapons of war sent here in the Philippines opening the country to perilous possibilities of inclusion in the declared war.
The US troops' humanitarian projection is no less than lie. They wanted to strengthen US bases in Southeast Asia in order to control flow of oil and other natural resources, serve as watchdogs looking after other developing countries that impose threats to the US economy, defeat the firmly established socialist system of economy in DPRK, and kill the patriotic movements within their colonies that advance sought for liberation.
This particular careless act of Aquino gained criticisms and condemnations from the broad masses. How could he place the Philippines in such possible danger to think there are a number of internal issues in the country that urgently need to be discussed and resolved?
In the North and South Korea dispute, the Philippine president's bias is loud and evident. He has been so attentive in giving speeches of support to South Korea while during the Sabah dispute, we can recollect his long silence and leaning to the Malaysian government despite the extensive killings of Filipinos in Sabah.
Well then, clearly, we can therefore conclude that Noynoy's boss is not his compatriots but the foreign, imperialist, US. Had he been truly a public servant of the Filipinos, as what he used to blub before he was elected, Hacienda Luisita and all other vast lands owned by big landlords should have already been given to our poor peasants. Had he been truly a servant of poor Filipinos, he would have established national industries that would provide job opportunities to the Filipino community, he would have put as his top priority the provision of accessible basic social services.
For reference:
Mariel Moralde
Spokesperson
Anakbayan UP Mindanao
