“In between these is Senator Imee Marcos’ revelation of Chinese missiles targeting Philippine- based US Typhon missile launchers and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mention of the same, panicking Filipinos”
A TOP US-proxy writer and talking head, Richard Heydarian, wrote in the South China Morning Post on July 6, 2024 a report titled, “’Backlash rising to Marcos Jr. US-friendly policy pivot’…’a rising chorus of Filipino voices has stepped up criticism of the US Pentagon’s expanding military footprint in the country.
“Certain progressive forces have accused the Marcos Jr. administration of undermining the country’s sovereignty by overtly siding with the West and Japan against China.”
Heydarian deliberately narrows the base of the “rising chorus” to red-tagged legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines, omitting the really significant forces like the “active AFP officers” that recently issued a manifesto calling for the removal of Marcos Jr. appointed rabidly pro-American and anti-China Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro who backed construction of a US-funded Forward Operating Base disguised as a “civilian” port in Batanes island closest to Taiwan.
“Secretary Gibo’s hasty and unreasonable decision to push for the military-led RoRe operation indicates a lack of strategic thinking… his main concern is to maximize his own publicity, rather than considering the potential consequences …”
This was all in the context of US “assertive transparency” operations and the June 17 stealth resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre of the Naval Special Operations Group which the Chinese Coast Guard met with equally unconventional confrontational tactics.
There are many other military voices like ex-General Johnny Macanas with YouTube titles (translated to English) like “EDCA violates the Constitution, Supreme Court to intervene?” or ex-Marine General Romeo Poquiz on FB saying “…the Philippine government is mired in a Catch-22 situation.
“The decision to confront China directly, instead of bilateral negotiations or diplomacy, will result in deaths on the Philippine side.”
Or ex-General Orlando E. de Leon on FB, “We should reject war, but we are being pushed into war with China by America just like Ukraine. That is also the situation in Taiwan. The US is saying one thing and doing another.
“The US will push us for its own benefit but will abandon us eventually. Because the US national interest is different from the Philippine national interest.”
There are others of lesser renown too many to list down here.
The backlash to the US-led strategy of tension against China saw exponential growth despite the manufactured “anti-China” sentiment fanned by mainstream print and broadcast media networks.
One of the major events that fanned the backlash was the Reuters revelation of US-Pentagon deliberate anti-vaccine lies to damage China’s vaccines and Duterte willfully harming Filipinos health, this US military psyops have been described as genocide by many Filipinos.
Another recent event was the Schiller Institute symposium on the threat of World War III and the answer of three prominent former US military officers Gen. Richard Black, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson and UN weapons inspector Maj. Scott Ritter to a question from the Philippines about the US intentions in the Philippines, summed up by Ritter in “America is not your friend, America is using you… after which it will abandon you…”
Another former US Marine Brian Berletic on YouTube broadcast a video titled, “The Philippines: Why it is Choosing US Destruction Over Chinese Construction” with a companion article in New Eastern Outlook explaining: “Maritime disputes treated as minor bilateral concerns … were escalated into a growing conflict under President Marcos Jr. with US backing, … to expand US military’s footprint…”
In between these is Senator Imee Marcos’ revelation of Chinese missiles targeting Philippine- based US Typhon missile launchers and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mention of the same, panicking Filipinos.
Then the June 17 Chinese Coast Guard axe-and-machete confrontation, boarding and dis-arming of Philippine Naval special Operations Group team sent out by US-proxy Defense secretary Gibo Teodoro ending in national humiliation and … And America did nothing.
The US campaign to “impose reputational costs” on China using the Philippines’ maritime security forces to provoke confrontational scenes and the Western and local media to “catastrophize” the incidents has run for a-year-and-a-half since February 2023, while US “pivot to Asia” continued transferring bases and Typhon missiles launchers, clearly has run into a blank wall.
Raymond Powell must be scratching his head and pacing the floor now. (rpkapunan@gmail.com)
