Old Image of the Clark Airbase from aviationspectator.com: An air to air left underside view of an F-4 Phantom II aircraft from the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing, Clark Air Base, Philippines, and a Thai air force F-5F Tiger II aircraft in formation during the joint Thai/US Air Force Exercise COMMANDO WEST VIII. Both aircraft are armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
Aquino trip paved the way 'for return of US military base' in Luzon
Philippines President Benigno Aquino should reveal the alleged signing of an agreement that gives docking and landing rights to ships and aircrafts of the United States at the former US bases in central Luzon, sources said.
President Aquino is "obliged by national interest to reveal the truth about his agreement with Gen. Martin Dempsey," chair of US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was at Malacanang, the presidential palace in early June, prior to Aquino's official visit to meet US President Barack Obama in Washington DC on June 8, Fernando Hicap, national chairperson of Pamalakaya, an organization of fisherfolk, told the Star.
Aquino allegedly paved the way "for the virtual return of US military bases in Central Luzon," the 47-year old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said in a statement on June 6.
The agreement was to "to give the US military unrestricted prerogative to make use of the naval and airport facilities of its former military bases in Clark, Pampanga and Subic, Zambales [both in central Luzon]," the CCP claimed.
The CPP quoted the alleged agreement as saying that US naval ships and military aircraft can use facilities only with "prior clearance from the Philippine government".
"It is an insignificant caveat" to make the government appear to have the right to assert its sovereignty, the CPP said.
The agreement could mean "deployment of large numbers of American troops, naval warships, aircrafts, drones and other military facilities on a level unprecedented since the 1946 Military Bases Agreement was rejected [by the Philippine Senate] on September 17, 1991," the CCP warned.
It could also mean weakening of the "Philippines to exercise an independent foreign policy" and the "Philippines' sovereign right to choose its friends and enemies," the CPP added.
This will allow the US "to use the Philippines as a staging platform for its interventionism, power-projection and hegemony-building efforts in the Asia-Pacific region, in outright violation of Philippine sovereignty," said the CPP.
If the agreement really exists, "the entire country is in danger of becoming an even larger American military base," Eleanor de Guzman, deputy secretary of Bayan, a leftist political party, told Bulatlat, a news website.
Roots is the China's invasion
The tightening grip of alliance between the Philippines and USA is largely influenced by the China's interest to control majority of the Philippine waters in the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea).
With the Scarborough Shoal Standoff between China and the Philippines 120 Nautical Miles off the Philippines Island Luzon make the Philippines lawmakers who voted out the USA Military base of the Philippines in 1991 was a big mistake.
Philippines Senator Juan Ponce Enrile one of the law makers who voted and ousted the largest American Airbase in the Pacific voiced out that Alliance between USA, Australia and the Philippines is very important to counter China's aggressive expansion towards the Philippines territory and must welcome the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) Australia and more strengthen the Balikatan for USA and the Philippines.
Philippine leftist and activist protesting, vandalizing and breaking the US emblem in the US Embassy Manila to show against the recent US-PHL Balikatan exercises while China and the Philippines face-off in the Scarborough Shoal of the Philippines Waters in Zambales Province.
The highest level of incidence in the seas is he Standoff of between China and the Philippines in Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) making the incident a highlight around the world.
Though china refused from internationalizing the dispute of the West Philippines Sea, the world seen it as china's belligerents in action in the waters of the ASEAN countries.
Written by Makisig Bayani
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