Atin Ang Pinas! Response to the Salaknib War Games and Trump administration's visit to the Philippines

Malaya Movement USA denounces the Salaknib military exercises, which will be followed by the yearly Balikatan war games on April 21. These yearly war games have proven to be expensive, destructive to the environment and disruptive to the livelihood of peasants, farmers, and fisherfolk who reside in the areas where they happen. We strongly oppose Trump’s newly appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's visit to the Philippines, a pit stop in his Asia tour starting on March 28. Hegseth’s recent blunder in accidentally texting war plans to the media reveals the current US administration’s ineptitude and carelessness and does not bode well for the so-called “ironclad” partnership between the two countries.

Let us be clear -- these aren’t just exercises, games or visits to “strengthen” the relationship between the two countries. It is a show of force by the US to try to establish dominance over China. It is dragging the Philippines and Filipinos into the intensifying conflict between two superpowers. We’re not surprised that Marcos Jr. has fully succumbed to foreign military interests by allowing these war games to expand its scope, frequency, and access to Philippine territory. He has sold out the Filipino people for his own political gain.

The increasing militarism in the Philippines, funded and directed by the US, is at the core of the increasing violations of human rights and of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) throughout the archipelago, especially in the countryside. Marcos Jr. is set on squashing any form of resistance, using all out counterinsurgency tactics and the Duterte-era “Whole-of-Nation” approach to terrorize the people.

In Trump’s fascist mad dash to slash budgets across the board, his administration carved out an exception for foreign military financing for the Philippines. This should be deeply concerning to any human rights advocate, especially Filipinos in the US whose tax dollars are being used to commit these human rights violations (HRVs) and war crimes.

Malaya Movement USA has endorsed BAYAN USA’s US Out of the Philippines campaign in line with our commitment to defend and assert Philippine sovereignty. We are inspired by the movement in the late 1980s and 1990s that expelled US bases from the Philippines and we urge Filipinos across the US to take action alongside us to live up to that legacy.

Engage your legislators and ask them to support the Philippine Human Rights Act, which aims to stop US military aid from going to fund HRVs and war crimes in the Philippines. Demand an end to all unequal military agreements and military exercises between the US and the Philippines!