US to Regain Control of Former Military Bases in PH

The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Thursday held a rally in front of the United States Embassy in Manila to protest Manila’s reported offer to let the US build storage facilities for its military under a security deal that was recently declared constitutional by the Supreme Court.

Bayan is one of the groups that questioned the legality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) which Manila and Washington signed last year. The agreement grants the US to increase its military presence in the countryfor humanitarian and maritime security operations.

Armed forces spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla Jr. on Wednesday disclosed that military airfields, two naval bases and a jungle training camp were offered to the United States. The Americans are also seeking access to three civilian seaports and airfields on Luzon, including Subic Bay, a former US Navy base, a senior defense official told Reuters.

In a statement posted on its website, Bayan warned that the eight locations for the EDCA should be opposed since “these are tantamount to having the US regain control of their former military bases while expanding into new bases.”

“Only the truly blind and hopelessly naive will say that these facilities are NOT bases,” Bayan secretary-general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. stated in the entry. “With these new sites, US will use the PH as a launching pad for military intervention.”

Also prepping for protests is youth group Anakbayan, whose members denounced the EDCA, saying that the agreement will “transform the entire nation into one big US military base.”

Anakbayan said in a press statement that the EDCA will make Filipinos more prone to abuses.

“The EDCA will surely lead to more abuses the country with the US stationing unlimited number of troops, weapons, and materials in local military facilities,” Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer risostomo said.“The agreement creates the conditions for the committing of crimes by US forces against Filipinos like the brutal murder of Jennifer Laude by US soldier Joseph Pemberton,” he added.

/Nikki Maliksi/

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