Judeus Itutud

The Reestablishment of Bases in the Philippines:

Issues Used as Justifications for the American Presence in the Philippines

By Judeus B. Itutud

                In the past few years, American presence in the country has been quite evident. They have opened and concluded several joint military exercises. The secretary of state has visited and talked with the Philippine president. Military troops have built basic structures in the provinces.

                The question remains, however. Why are the American troops here? This is relatively easy to answer. The American troops are here because they want something from the Philippines. Fact of the matter is they need the Philippines as a launching pad to other Asian nations. This is primarily due to the Philippines' strategic location. It is common knowledge that the Philippines is the gateway to Asia coming from the Pacific, which is where the United States of America is situated. This position of the Philippines makes it a very good launching pad for the American forces to any point in Asia.

                But why would the US forces desire a launching pad in the first place? Simply, the US needs launching pads (this includes all other military installations in the Asian Region) to protect their interests, may it be military, political, or economic in nature. Their primary goal of course is to make sure that, especially with the September 11 attack, every country must imagine that they are still the one and only world power. Put into other words, this is power projection.

                China, the sleeping giant, is slowly awakening. They have now reverted to a capitalist authority from a socialist icon. With the presence of this up and coming world power, both militarily and economically, the US must make sure that this region force would be contained even before it emerges as a full threat to their global position. So what must the US do to realize this goal of containment? Contain it literally, that is, surround it with military installations. Hence, the Philippines.

                With the reasons previously mentioned, the Philippines becomes a vital ground for the suppression process. This would not have been much of a problem had they been able to retain their bases in the country. A collaboration between The Magnificent Twelve, the Filipino people, and Mother Nature took care of the matter, however. Together, they drove the American forces out only for the other set of officials and Filipinos to welcome them back a few years later.

                A decision had to be made before they set foot on the islands. They had to determine whether they should reestablish their bases, or should they develop an easier and more economical measure in using the Philippines. Of the two choices, they chose the latter. This choice entails the establishments of some military structures that will be puppetly maintained by the AFP, non-stop Balikatan exercises and other joint military events, and falsely taking the hearts of the Filipinos through the incorporation of false hopes of progress. Aside from these, there are also other arrangements such as the access agreements, port calls, etc. All these may be termed in one expression-- roving base.

                The roving base arrangement in essence is the use of the whole country as one large American base. They may use any point in the country as a take-off point, any docks as docking venues for their war ships, any airfields as launching/ landing points for their aircrafts. This is a very economical arrangement for them because it entails minimal cost as there will be little number of structures to maintain, they have an almost, if not, free access to the Philippine resources, and they are free to use all the facilities the country has. Totally unlike the reestablishment of bases where they are only allowed a certain space and limited use of resources and facilities. This is also highly advantageous because, as previously stated, they may take-off from any point in the country, unlike the bases wherein they are confined to use only their bases as take-off points. The idea of roving bases also makes it a bit difficult for their adversaries to attack them because they are not permanently fixed to a certain position, which is exactly the situation had they chose to reestablish their bases. Not to mention, the reestablishment of bases in the country, especially if they are to use their old facilities, would limit them to the northern part of the country only.

A problem, however, faced them upon their return. This is the dilemma of having to make everything acceptable to the Philippine countrymen. They try to solve this problem by using issues that might appease the Filipino minds and emotions. These issues are the following:

§         The China threat

§         The anti-terrorist campaign

§         The Clinton doctrine/ brotherhood principle

These issues are the main focus of this paper and will be discussed further individually in the succeeding items.

The China Threat

As was mentioned earlier, China has forgotten its socialist roots and is now a capitalist in practice.  Not only this, China, already a region power, is becoming a world power, both economically and militarily. This bit of information alarmed the Whitehouse authorities to a panic level. Something has to be done. They could lose a very profitable market. The production cost might zoom if they lose the labor force that they are now currently exploiting.

What to do? The answer to their predicament suddenly showed itself.

Contain it. Restrain China's development, especially in the aspect that the US deems as their territory, that is, the military.

Because of this they are forced to return the bases to the country. But as was discussed previously, this would entail a high cost. With the dwindling American economy, the US government cannot afford the high cost of maintenance. Hence, they opted for a roving base arrangement, which gives them added benefits with least cost.  The problem with this, however, is how to convince the Filipino people that they must stay in the Philippines. They found their solution in the very problem that sends them to the Philippines—the China threat.

With the ongoing militarization of China, they are claiming that China poses a threat to the Asian Region. They are saying that China will soon build an empire and conquer the Philippines and the rest of the Asian nations. Further, they claim that when such an event occurs, the Filipinos will not be able to defend the country and will, therefore, once again lose its prized independence. This threat is further exploited as to implying that the Philippines, if not aided militarily by the US, will lose its democratic system and will soon lead socialist lives. This of course will put the fear of God in the people’s perspectives. They also insinuate that the only way for the Filipinos to survive this attack is if America helps them. With this, it is imperative, therefore, for the US forces to stay and protect the country from the Asian villains.

This, however, does not fool the Filipinos primarily because the Filipinos are not aware of this threat. Not many know of China's change of image when it comes to the military aspect. What everyone is aware of is the economic change in China. Because of this, the China threat is not used as much as the next issue.

The Anti-terrorist Campaign

September 11, 2001.

America faced the worst form of retribution that they have encountered in the whole of their history. Thousands of people were killed. Hundreds of buildings and establishments were destroyed. Millions of dollars was needed to repair the damage. These matters were not the main concern however.

America was attacked. They were attacked where they were most proud of. The Pentagon lost a wing. The World Trade Center collapsed and disintegrated into nothingness. The Whitehouse was a target that barely escaped.

The sanctity that was America dissolved and vanished. This is what they were most concerned about. So what should they do? Call them terrorist and counter attack. Then label all other revolutionary groups as terrorist, then attack. But how to justify these attacks to the international community and citizenry? To answer this problem, they capitalized on the September 11 incident. The terrorists must be eliminated. They would not, of course, let the others, especially the civilians, see that they, the US Government, themselves are terrorist.

This is exactly what they did, and are doing, to the Philippines and its inhabitants. First, they wanted to get the sympathy of the people because of the lives lost in the bombing. Then they try to make the people believe that what has happened in New York will most likely happen in the country. This created a bit of panic in the Filipino people. Then they solicit the help of the Philippine government under the guise of an anti-terrorist campaign. This guise is of course only for the public as the government is a part of this connivance.

What they haven't counted for is that they will meet resistance in their comeback. They have thought that they have the Philippines under their control. They did not realize that the Filipino people are awake to America's faults and deceptions. Perturbed, they resorted to a very low attack. They classified these opposing forces to be terrorist themselves. This ploy has yet to work, however, as the Filipino clamor for the departure of American forces is still very strong.

Another thing they have mistaken for is that the Filipinos will not support retribution. Rather, they ask for a democratic and peaceful process of justice. They thought that the Filipino, being a very emotional race, would ultimately demand for vengeance. It is sure that to some certain extent, some Filipinos supported this drive. However, the majority of Filipinos, being themselves victims of everyday violence, just want to live peaceful lives.

The fact that they need to stay still remains, however. So, in order to justify their actions and exemplify the current trend of terrorism, they reverted the public's attention to the Philippine based terrorists-- the Abu Sayaff.

It must be noted at this point that the Abu Sayaff are indeed terrorists. However, this group was not a Filipino creation, rather, it is an American Frankenstein monster. Meaning, the US themselves created this group to fight in Pakistan and to, later on, protect their interests in the Mindanao region. Their claim is that the Abu Sayaff received help, both financially and militarily in terms of weapons, from the Al Quaeda group. The creation of Al Quaeda, it must be clarified, is also of their own hands.

With the attention of the public focused on the Abu Sayaff eradication, the American forces try to look as if they emerged as the heroes of the Philippine campaign on war against terrorism.

This is how the Americans capitalize their supposed campaign on war against "terrorism."

The Clinton Doctrine/ The Brotherhood Principle

"If any minority is oppressed by a certain group or individuals, it is America's responsibility to help them."

-- Clinton Doctrine

                Given this statement, it may be deduced that America establishes itself as some sort of savior to anyone oppressed. This would have been great if America itself is not an oppressor.

                The Clinton doctrine and the brotherhood principle go hand in hand. While the US claims that it is their duty to save the oppressed, they make it to a point that they insinuate that they are doing this duty out of brotherly love and respect. This doctrine was, in fact, used even before it was named such. Take for example the Spanish-American war. The US used the term "our little brown brothers" to incite the emotions of the people of America to support their campaign in taking over the Philippines. Another example is how the US led the Filipinos believe that they are indeed their little brown brothers so as to pacify their actions against the US government in the Philippines.

                Nowadays, the Americans are once again using the very same doctrine and principle to justify their stay. They are claiming that it is their duty to help in the destruction of the Abu Sayaff as the elder white brothers, this is even another reason different from the anti-terrorist campaign. It is also their duty to alleviate the people of some of their difficulties. In line with this, they built bridges, roads, schools, and other basic infrastructures in the far away provinces near to where they were currently waging war against the Abu Sayaff.

                This principle is basically the typical heart stringer that one may use to justify the existence of American troops in the Philippine soil. The thing is, all these stringers are just that. They give nothing but false hopes. Sure, a school has been established and bridges have been built, but the Americans continue to pillage the country of its resources. One cannot claim to be a savior if at the end you only use that person as a means to get something else. Immanuel Kant himself uttered, "Never use a person only as a means to an end, but as ends in itself."

The Truth About Cats, Dogs, and Issues

                Cats, dogs, terrorists, heroes… each and everyone different from each other… each and everyone the same… depending on how one views them.

                It is true that heroes and terrorists are as vengeful foes as cats and dogs. However one must truly understand the difference because there is only a very thin line that delineates who is who and what is what. Unlike the cats and dogs where the appearance of the individuals in itself may be used as a judge to differentiate the two, both the hero and the terrorist are human beings, and, as previously stated before, the labeling of terrorists and heroes are purely dependent on who is doing the labeling. In other words, one man’s terrorist is another man’s hero.

                In the Philippine context, the use of issues provides adequate proof that the US in itself is in fact a terrorist more than a great hero. With the deception of people, the exploitation of the Philippine resources, not to mention the imminent threat of a counter attack from the opposing forces to the US forces in the Philippine soil that would surely kill a great number of civilians, US disregards the value of lives that would be waged in their pursuance of their self interest. This is the essence of terrorism.

                Aside from this, the US does not really give a valid reason for their stay. None of the issues they use are legitimate justifications. The China threat may apply to the Philippines. However, as current events are unfolding, it may be observed that the Chinese are more inclined towards economic empire than a military empire.

At the end of the day, everything boils down to a single matter, that is, the US must never be given permission to stay and use the Philippines as their whole base primarily because it is against every thing that democracy and freedom promotes, and this is what the Filipinos value most.