A Reminder of Subservience and Mendicancy: Nothing “Mutual” About RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty

By Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
BAYAN Secretary General

The existence of the Mutual Defense Board under the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty is a continuing reminder of the subservience to US interests and mendicant foreign policy of the Philippines.

Over the past 50 years, the MDT has benefitted the US primarily. The MDT has allowed the US to make the Philippines its neo-colonial outpost in South East Asia, having used the country during the US wars of aggression in Korea and Vietnam. The MDT made possible the existence then of US military bases and the existence now of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement.

It is worth noting that after 50 years of sitting on the MDB, the Philippine military has not modernized. Even when there were US military bases, and after countless “joint exercises”, the AFP is still among the most backward armed forces in the region. This is because the US never really intended for the AFP to fully modernize and become a self-reliant armed force. This is a basic condition for the US to continuously influence over the AFP and keep the latter dependent on US military aid and surplus goods.

It is also worth noting that while the MDT’s mandate is that of warding off external threats to the Philippines, it is also being used to justify American presence versus an internal threat such as the MILF or even the Abu Sayyaf.

The extreme puppetry of the Arroyo regime is apparent when it allows the continuing and permanent presence of American troops in Mindanao in the guise of “joint exercises” and “civic and humanitarian missions.”

The Balikatan in Mindanao has allowed the US Special Forces under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines to be closer than ever to the armed conflict. The vague provisions of the VFA allow the US forces to maintain a rotational force of 400-600 soldiers who stay for about six months and take part in so-called “approved activities.” Through this loophole in the VFA, the US is already operating a Forward Operating Site, a new type of flexible basing arrangement, in Zamboanga.

So-called “civic operations” and “humanitarian missions” are merely part of the over-all “communications strategy” of the US forces as pointed out in Annex A of the US Pacific Command Joint Training Strategy for 2007. The US is deploying US Special Forces– armed and trained fighters, not doctors and dentists– to Mindanao.

The US has acquired an expanded combat role when it engages in intelligence work and is embedded in armed units of the AFP. Despite the apparent violations of the Philippine constitution by the US forces, the Philippine government wants to have more “joint exercises”.

The VFA does not set a limit on the number of US troops that can enter the country, the number of “exercises” that can be allowed in a year, and the type of activities that can be undertaken.

This means more intervention, violations of the Constitution, and the undermining of our sovereignty.###