Today, hundreds of members of Malaya Movement USA echo the Filipino people’s desire for true sovereignty for the Philippines. The beginning of this year’s U.S.-Philippines Balikatan Exercise is our reminder that the Philippines is not our own but a token the Marcos administration is more than happy to pawn.

Malaya Movement USA stands in full defense of our sovereign waters in the Philippines in light of the recent collision between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the Ayungin Shoal on October 21. We condemn China’s incursion and aggression in the West Philippine Sea, and denounce President Biden’s statement invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty(MDT) against China as a result of the incident. The U.S. military’s posturing in this increasingly volatile region puts the Philippines in a dangerous position.

The Balikatan, or “shoulder-to-shoulder,” Exercises is an annual military event between the United States and the Philippines meant to reinforce the Philippines’ role as a U.S. military collaborator by increasing training, intelligence, and capacity to respond to external threats to U.S. interests in the Asia Pacific. In essence, the exercises are a theater for warfare and US military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Malaya Movement USA unequivocally asserts Philippine sovereignty against the Balikatan Military Exercises between the Philippines and the United States. We in the Malaya Movement USA condemn any provocation for escalation of hostilities and war mongering between the two superpowers. It is on this basis that we stand firmly that the Philippines does not stand to gain from Balikatan.

Malaya Movement USA condemns the addition of four military bases from which the U.S. can operate out of in the Philippines as part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).