President Aquino’s suspiciously prudent stance on the presence of minesweeper USS Guardian inside Philippine territory pales in comparison to his hysterics over China’s claim to the disputed islands in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). Mr. Aquino’s position further reveals his administration’s inconsistencies in dealing with the issue of sovereignty. He has no qualms to show off that his government’s loyalty and interests are with the US government—to the detriment of Philippine sovereignty and people’s rights.
Karapatan laments that despite the obvious transgression by the US government, the Philippine government assumes a “business as usual” attitude on the Tubbataha Reef incident; instead, it raised the issue on the territorial disputes with China before an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). Such act, meant to please Big Brother, was apparently driven by Mr. Aquino’s interest in getting the $30-million military aid allocated by the US government. That would explain why he has condoned the unauthorized entry of the USS Guardian.
The Aquino administration reacted in the same nonchalant manner when a BQM-74E target drone was recovered in waters off San Jacinto town on Ticao Island, Masbate, last Jan. 7. This is a classic display of the Philippine government’s mendicancy and subservience to the United States.
The US Senate Committee on Appropriations recently recommended $30 million in military assistance for the Philippines for the use of the Philippine Navy and Air Force this year.
Karapatan notes an increasing presence of US troops and several US war vessels in the Philippines. The US troops’ presence and the continuing flow of US military aid to the Armed Forces of the Philippines are conspicuous developments that strengthen our belief that the US government and the Aquino administration are working double time to meet the deadline of Phase 1 of the US-inspired Oplan Bayanihan by yearend.
Oplan Bayanihan, authored by the newly appointed AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, is the Filipino version of the US Counterinsurgency Guide. The first phase of Oplan Bayanihan is due to end this year. It aims, at the minimum, to “neutralize” all the armed groups perceived by the government as “threats to national security.” Oplan Bayanihan’s Phase 2 gears the AFP for “external security” simultaneous with the US government’s “Asian pivot.”
The release of a part of the US military aid, amounting to $3 million, is dependent on the measures that will be taken by the Aquino administration to supposedly end extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations—measures that, as manifested by Mr. Aquino’s current posturing on human rights issues, smack of “tokenism.”
Under the Aquino administration, Karapatan documented 137 cases of extrajudicial killings (as of December 2012).
—CRISTINA PALABAY,
secretary general, Karapatan,
karapatan@karapatan.org