Sovereignty at Stake:
Women March against US Troops Presence in the Philippines

Today members of KAISA KA marched to Mendiola bearing umbrellas without leaves to symbolize insecurity of Filipinas in the presence of the global bully and warmonger US.“Walang maramdamang seguridad ang mga Pilipina sa Pilipinas, habang andito si GI Joe”

This was the statement of Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (KAISAKA-KPD) National Chairperson Atty. Virginia Suarez-Pinlac referring to on-going talks between Malacañang and Washington to intensify US troops presence in the country.

“How can we feel secure in the presence of US military troops in our midst? US troops are war magnets and have a poor track record of upholding women’s rights whether within their ranks or in nations where they are deployed,” lamented Pinlac referring to cases of abuse, rape and other rights violations that hound US troops.

“We have not forgotten Nicole, nor Abu Ghraib or that the culture of violence, especially sexual violence, is so deeply dyed into the fabric of the US Armed Forces that even women soldiers within their ranks are inevitably victimized ,” pointed out Pinlac.

According to KAISAKA, a transformational organization of grassroots women, it would be folly for the Pnoy administration to simply rely on the United States to act in the best interest of Filipinos when its only the US who stand to gain from rotational basing of their troops in strategic locations in the country and the region.

Pinlac adds that various access agreements like the Visiting Forces Agreement gave way to new basing arrangements and enabled US special forces like those deployed in Sulu, Tawi-tawi and Zamboanga to amplify its presence to a hundred more countries on top of their old-type of bases already positioned in seventy-five (75) countries.

The Asian pivot or shift to the region from the Middle East by US troops is a response to a stronger China and an economy saddled by a massive fiscal deficit. For instance, the US government has scaled down on their costly Iraq and Afghanistan troop deployment in favor of more economical alternatives like rotational basing.

“The US strategy in the Pacific is a two-headed monster, the first is war -its war economy gains from fueling regional strife and tension whether real or imagined; and the second is plundering the region’s rich natural resources such as oil, gas and marine resources; all packaged as “cooperation for regional security and trade” and “freedom of navigation”,” said Pinlac.

This is the reason behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Partnership for Growth (PFG), the multilateral and bilateral formations being hawked by the US to ASEAN nations in a bid to expand its influence and leadership over the region on one hand while trying to edge out China all one fell swoop.

“We strongly oppose any and all moves to further US troop presence in the country whether through the VFA or a re-invented Mutual Defense Treaty. No good will come with siding with the global bully, it will only lead to our ruin as a sovereign nation,” ended Pinlac. ####

Press Release
March 8, 2012