“The US-BBM power-wielders today are not leaving any room for being pro-Filipino anymore”
The “’NO to US-BBM Proxy War‘ Koalisyon ng Mamamayan Kontra Giyera” was launched last April 24, with public intellectuals, political leaders, people’s organizatonions and community groups that number almost 200 at a gathering in the modest venue of the middle-class watering hole in Quezon City Sports Club (unlike events of the US-sponsored CSIS and ADRI events at the plush five-star hotels).
Leading public intellectuals who supported it were former Senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad, former government spokesman Atty. Harry Roque, former undersecretary Loraine Badoy, scientific pollster and columnist Malou Tequia (who stayed at the back of the hall and did not introduce herself), activist and former congressional detainee Ka Eric Celiz, social media scholar-warriors Sassot Rogando and Anna Malindog-Uy via Zoom, a former National Security Council deputy, a retired general and a retired major.
Worthy of special mention is Senator Tatad, today star columnist of the Manila Times and of course a list of “formers” — such as a presidential “spox,” senator and consistent anti-war advocate.
He was a major contributor to the manifesto of the “No to US-BBM Proxy War” initiative but texted at the last minute during the conference that due to momentary physical discomfort with the weather, he sends his support but could not make it on the grand gathering.
The Manila Times reported the event, giving vent to the anti-war perspective of the gathering and the movement it was launching, quoting its manifesto accurately: “The ideals of independence and sovereignty have always been at the core of our national identity, and we refuse to compromise these values in the face of current threats posed by the US-BBM proxy war against China,…” citing Herman Tiu Laurel, of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute.
The manifesto went on to explain the United States has a long history of intervention in the affairs of sovereign nations using economic, political and military means, and focused on the 2011 “pivot to Asia” strategy of the US was aimed at containing China’s rise as a global power with a major part of the strategy utilizing escalation of tensions in the Asia-Pacific employing countries like the Philippines as “strategic pawns in this nihilistic game.”
The manifesto slammed BBM’s acquiescence to the militarization of the South China Sea, signing lopsided agreements on US EDCA bases in the Philippines, consenting to erosion of democratic institutions to impose US control of the domestic scene in the Philippines, and stifling information freedom against the proxy war, pointing to complicity in the US plot to “entangle the country in the US-Japan-Philippine Triad proxy war against China.”
The irony is the title of the article which the editor (as the report itself is very objective and unbiased) tacked on — a jaundiced reference in the story’s headline “Pro-China coalition formed.”
There was nothing pro-China in the content of the report, all that can be read in it is the exposé of strategic US intentions to contain China and its plot to create tension, instability and an eventual proxy war that will harm, if not devastate, the Philippines being used as a war proxy.
Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong laid down the risk of the Philippines acting as proxy, in a Bloomberg news interview he asks Filipinos “… are you sure you want to be a Battleground?”
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on April 26, 2024, in front of Philippine Foreign Secretary Manalo, warned of a “bleak” future for ASEAN and Indo-Pacific if SCS tensions rise and, not so obliquely, ”.. . no single ASEAN country wants to become a proxy or vassel state of any power…”
The “Pro-China” tag is a propaganda handle of the US-BBM psywar and mass mind manipulation campaign that started in February 2023 when BBM pivoted back to the US after his “secret” deal with the US, trading off Philippine independence for whatever concessions he got (everybody speculates what it is, from hidden wealth to blackmail) from the US warmongers.
The US-BBM power-wielders today are not leaving any room for being pro-Filipino anymore, its either you’re pro-American, which they don’t deny themselves and just don’t mention, or pro-China which is false but no one is given any choice anymore. (rpkapunan@gmail.com)