Arms purchases from the US assailed
Various progressive organizations have assailed plans by the Aquino regime to purchase surplus military hardware from the US under the US' Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program.
The groups led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said that buying military equipment from the US is tied to US interests in perpetuating the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Purchasing weapons and other military equipment from the US is always tied to US interests, said BAYAN.
BAYAN cited the fact that US promises for the last five years to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in exchange for maintaining its military bases and entering into an agreement with the US have come to nothing. The Aquino regime's plans to buy surplus military equipment from the US is proof that the Philippines' dependence on the US has not paid off.
The US' EDA program is a way of supporting its puppet states so they could serve the US' international politico-military strategy. In particular, the US is able to expand the scope of its military power in the Asia-Pacific by allowing the puppet Aquino regime to use its obsolete military equipment.
In recent years, a number of US officials had bared plans to lease war planes to the Philippine puppet government as a way of enhancing US imperialism's military influence and presence in the region.
The US has been further stepping up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific in the face of what it views as threats posed by the growing military power of China. The US and the Aquino regime are currently invoking territorial disputes over the Spratly Islands among the Philippines, Vietnam and China to warn against the possibility of armed conflict.
