The following article is reprinted from the Feb. 7, 2007 edition of Ang Bayan, the official news organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines. (link to original article)

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US military intervention in the Philippines

The US government and the Arroyo regime have been conducting an extensive propaganda campaign to justify US military intervention in the Philippines. Over the past few weeks, they have relentlessly been harping that US support and leadership are key factors in their operations against so-called terrorists. The AFP has been bragging about its joint efforts with the US military in killing Abu Sayyaf leaders Kadaffi Janjalani and Jainal Antel Sali (Abu Solaiman, according to the AFP). The Abu Sayyaf is a small local bandit group in Basilan and Sulu that the military tags as terrorist.

While profusely thanking the US for its "leadership and support," the Arroyo regime has made every effort to conceal the actual extent of American military involvement in operations against the Abu Sayyaf. The Arroyo regime strives to escalate US military intervention, but fears igniting stronger and broader patriotic sentiments among the Filipino people. The regime also wants to avoid criminal liability for violating a constitutional provision prohibiting the involvement of foreign troops in combat operations in the Philippines. While admitting that American troops conduct strike operations in the Philippines, the Arroyo regime's officials and the AFP insist that American involvement is limited to providing intelligence, equipment, advice and training.

All these in fact constitute US military intervention in the Philippines. Air reconnaissance, espionage and intelligence-gathering using American troops or their agents spread throughout the country are violations of Philippine sovereignty. US espionage activities, especially for the purpose of gathering tactical combat intelligence are an essential aspect of military operations and are in fact used by the US military to direct AFP combat operations. Even more damning is the actual participation of American troops in combat and special operations that US and Philippine government and military officials continue to conceal.

US military involvement in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf is both stepping stone and preparation for its larger goal of intervening in the counterrevolutionary war and supressing the patriotic and anti-imperialist movement in the Philippines. The anti-imperialist forces—those who resolutely struggle against the US and its puppet regime's domination and oppression of the country—are the real strategic target of US military intervention in the Philippines. They are primarily composed of the revolutionary armed forces and the legal patriotic and progressive forces.

There is a long history of covert and overt US military involvement in the counterrevolutionary war in the Philippines. The Joint US Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG) has long been conducting various training programs for Philippine military officers and men, and US military advisors have for a long time been drafting and directing the AFP's counter-insurgency programs. The US remains the main supplier of weapons and military equipment for the AFP. It has been giving about $20-30 million annually in military aid for the puppet regime in the past few years. The P10 billion fund for the AFP Modernization Program is drawn from such aid.

The old low-intensity conflict strategy has been replaced with the out-and-out fascist campaigns Oplan Bantay Laya I (2001) and II (2006) which are based on the doctrine and strategy of the global war against terror. These exacerbate the ruthless trampling by the US and its puppet armed forces of civil rights, sovereignty and the laws of war.

The Arroyo regime's campaign of political killings is patterned after the Phoenix Program conducted during the US war of aggression in Vietnam. Tens of thousands of ordinary citizens suspected of aiding the Vietnamese guerrillas were killed yearly in a massive assassination campaign conducted by the US and its puppet regime's troops.

Over the past few years, American troops have been freely entering the revolutionary movement's territories. Since 2004, the US has been taking advantage of natural calamities to deploy its troops in areas it suspects are strongholds of the revolutionary movement. American troops have entered revolutionary areas in Quezon, Aurora, Leyte and Albay. To cover up the military intent of these operations, they were called humanitarian missions.

These operations are intended to familiarize US troops with the physical and social terrain, enhance their interoperability with local AFP units, enable them to gather intelligence data using unmanned aerial vehicles and spies, recruit mercenaries and assets, prepare the infrastructure for war and project a humanitarian image.

It is the Arroyo regime's unabashed puppetry that has exacerbated US military intervention in the Philippines. It is despicable how Arroyo gushed with delight after US President George W. Bush called to praise her for her "victories" in the "fight against terrorism".

The regime allows American troops and military advisors permanent presence in Philippine camps, gives free access to US warships and spy planes and allows the involvement of American troops in combat operations—all of which violate national sovereignty and the constitution.

The Arroyo regime has proven itself a true and trustworthy puppet of US imperialism. Desperate for US support, Arroyo has done everything to please her master.

The revolutionary forces and the rest of the Filipino people must do their utmost to expose and resist all forms of US military intervention, from joint military exercises, military advisory activities, special, strike and intelligence operations and other covert forms of participation in military operations, to even their phony humanitarian missions in various parts of the Philippines. We must persistently build the broadest united front of patriotic forces to resist deepening US military intervention in the Philippines and thwart other moves that may worsen the problem, including the puppet regime's connivance with US imperialism.

All revolutionary forces must prepare for the gradually intensifying levels of direct military intervention in the revolutionary movement's areas of operation. The moment the US launches a war of aggression against the Philippine revolutionary movement, the revolutionary forces will transform the current civil war into a largescale national war against US aggression, with the US confronting fierce resistance from the revolutionary forces and patriotic Filipinos.