The Philippines is now focused on EDCA, with the expanded agreement covering access to an additional four AFP facilities and the expansion of an airstrip in the Balabac Island group in Palawan. It was Philippine Ambassador to the US Babe Romualdez who made the announcement, not the President and not even Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo.
Marcos is supposed to be the chief architect of foreign policy but there are many who are inclined to believe that Romualdez is in-charge, vice Manalo, who is also unabashedly, pro-US.
The Philippines and the US recently concluded a two-plus-two one-on-one meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with their Philippine counterparts, Enrique Manalo and Carlito Galvez last March.
This was also under the auspices of Romualdez but what observers noted was while the US was able to obtain much concessions from the Philippines, the latter wasn’t able to receive the same in return, primarily on the efforts of the Philippines to access a bigger piece of America's market. The US betrayed the Philippines again.
Did Ambassador Babe Romualdez fight for the Philippine interest as hard as he fights for US military interests in the Philippines?
Filipinos Collateral Damage for US Interest
While Marcos continues to enjoy popular support coming off his record win at the polls in May 2022, critical-thinking Filipinos are wary of his pivot to the US given the risk involved in provoking retaliation from China through increased tensions in the disputed waters in the South China Sea and the fact that China is the top trading partner of the country, and major partner in infrastructure development.
All of these developments are coming on the heels of the perceived weakening of the US with its failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and the largely ineffective sanctions on Russia, which has been relying on the advice of Iran for ways to go around the American ban given they have been under the same regime since 1979.
It doesn’t help that the US trade sanctions on China have had the effect of fueling anti-American sentiment in key regions around the world. China has brokered a semblance of peace between the Saudis and the Iranians. The same is true with Syria. There are also African countries which have announced their disengagement with their former colonial rulers such as France. There have been widespread protests in France and Germany against NATO support for Ukraine and the continuing escalation of inflation in the continent due to US and NATO sanctions on Russian energy exports.
By far the largest elephant in the room which remains unaddressed is the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline and subsequent expose by prominent American journalist Seymour Hersh that the US was behind it.
How Many Filipinos Will Die for America?
The Philippines was on the wrong side of history when the Pacific War broke out, leading to over a million Filipinos perishing. But those were circumstances beyond its control because it was the subject of horse trading between the declining Spanish empire and the rising American empire.
Pax Britannia ended after World War II. Pax Americana began with the Monroe Doctrine and continued with the ascendancy of the US during the Cold War and the fight against the spread of communism in Asia.
Another million Filipinos died in World War 2, Japan and America fought each other in the Philippines and obliterated Manila.
While America continues projecting itself as fighting for good versus evil, it has created far more deaths and destructions since WW2, and have turned nations into warzones until today. American economic and financial hegemony through the dollar is ending and this development is too serious to just sweep under the rug and say that in the end, America will still emerge triumphant.
But we need to keep a close watch on the pro-American cabal surrounding BBM. They have his ear and he has been dancing to the tune they’ve been playing even before his inauguration.
If the government and the AFP isn’t going to protect the people as provided for in the Constitution, then we, the people, have no other choice but to protect ourselves.
Is Babe Romualdez the Filipino Edward Lansdale?
One can’t help but compare Romualdez to Edward Lansdale, the former US Air Force officer who was the Central Intelligence Agency’s resident chief in the Philippines after World War II. It was Lansdale who engineered the rise of Ramon Magsaysay to the Presidency. Many believe he was also behind Magsaysay’s death in a plane crash in Cebu.
Lansdale also worked with the AFP in counter-insurgency operations against the Huks. Lansdale was believed to have recruited Ninoy Aquino as a CIA operative. The same is true with Ninoy’s close friend, Max Soliven, who attended college at Fordham University in New York. Soliven and Romualdez became close after the Marcos’ fall from power.
The crowning move, as it seems, has been secured, with the announcement that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will be embarking on a working visit to the US in May with a meeting in the White House with key officials led by President Joe Biden and top members of his Cabinet.
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