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LFS leads youth organizations; stages lightning rally on 1st day of Balikatan exercises
Slams BALIKATAN, military agreements as travesty tothe country’s sovereignty
Members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), together with other militant youth organizations, greeted the opening of this year’s Balikatan Exercises 2012 with a lightning rally at the US Embassy in Manila early morning today, April 16. The militant action is still part of their campaign against US interventionism in the country.
“Despite the people’s clamor for independence, Noynoy Aquino continues to be at the beck and call of the government of the US, and, in doing so, exposes himself as a slave for his imperialist masters instead of us Filipinos,” says LFS Spokesperson Gemma Canalis.
The group slammed the President for allowing continued US presence in the country in exchange for obsolete military vehicles.
“Like a dog to his master, Noynoy laps up outdated equipment from the US as bribe for their military operations in the country, like surveillance by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), most famous of which is the armed US Drones, responsible for the recent Sulu bombing. The persistence of military troops not only in training, but years proven of actual combat operations is a clear breach of our Constitution,” added Canalis.
The US first used drones after the September 9/11 attacks and forced armed drones in pursuit of the Taliban in 2001. According to reports from New America Foundation, an independent think tank, 2 out of 10 deaths victimized civilians and non-combatants who are clearly not targets of the Bush’s “war on terror.
At present, the continued use of drones is part of the cost-cutting measure implemented by the Obama administration as expressed in their Quadrennial Defense Review of 2010 where their total debt incurred from military operations amounted to US $15trillion, US$1trillion of which was spent on its wars of aggression in Afghanistan.
Canalis also criticized the current US-Aquino regime for trying to deceive the people into welcoming US troops when the government said increased US military presence will help maintain national security. “The US is desperate to use the AFP as an extension of the USAF and preserve the Philippine islands as a strong military outpost in the Asia-Pacific region. It is a well-orchestrated plan to encircle and contain threatening economies to US such as China and North Korea. It is also a strategy to control 30% of trade and investments coursed through the South China Sea with 60,000 ships passing through this area every year.”
This clearly follows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s declaration of the American Pacific Century in November 2011 where she reiterated Obama’s plan to re-balance the (military) forces of US from Afghanistan to the Asia-Pacific. US is also desperate to protect its economic interest in the region with the recent forging of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) where countries in the region will be reduced to a single trading community where US can immediately dictate its free trade agreements to the no-questions-asked compliance of puppet government such as Aquino’s.
“If the President will stand firm in siding with the US and its imperialist interests, he can expect a greater wave of actions more militant and massive in scale starting today,” warns Canalis. ###
Reference:
Gemma Canalis, Spokesperson
+639268884655
Warren Gutierrez, Media Liaison
+639161630337
