By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – There is freedom of expression according to the Philippine
Constitution, but according to the marchers who protested the visit of
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the country, the Aquino
government is “giving more priority to Clinton’s stature rather than the
Filipinos’ rights.” The protesters who came from various progressive
organizations were twice barred by the police from marching nearer
toward the US Embassy Tuesday, hours before Clinton’s scheduled arrival.
The protesters were thus forced to hold their program, which included
burning a US flag, along Kalaw Avenue.
Warning the Filipinos to “beware of the US government’s make-believe
friendship,” the progressive groups said Hillary Clinton’s visit is
“more for strengthening the lopsided US-Philippine relationship,
enhancing the means with which the US can further take advantage of the
Philippines, and attacking our sovereignty.” The protesters held their
program inches away from columns of shield and baton-wielding members of
the police.
Broken promises
After
60 years
of Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and “broken promises” about helping to
develop the Philippines, particularly its armed forces, Renato Reyes Jr.
of Bayan said, Filipinos have “no more illusions” that it can ever be
of real help. In fact, after decades of this “myth of cooperation and
reciprocity,” he pointed to the Philippines being “shamefully the most
backward in the region” as proof of MDTs’ utter uselessness for the
country.
Protesters show their sentiments.(Photo by Marya Salamat / bulatlat.com)
The MDT was forged when the US government used the Cold War as
justification for dragging the Philippines into wars, Reyes said.
“The MDT which made the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) possible, and
which Benigno Aquino III had promised to review while campaigning for
the presidency because of its many problematic provisions, is still not
reviewed up to now– over a year since he became president,” said Reyes.
In a statement, Bayan has previously said, “Mutuality and reciprocity
are the biggest myths fostered by the MDT and the VFA. These
instruments are in place primarily to secure support for US hegemonic
interests in the region and not for anything else.” They also urged the
Philippine government to “wake up from the pipe-dream that we are
treated as equals and with respect by the US.”
Clinton will announce new support for the Philippines in her latest
visit, based on an Agence France-Presse report. Officials accompanying
Clinton on her trip to “key allies” in the Pacific were quoted as saying
she would hold talks with President Benigno Aquino III and tour a
warship.
The United States has provided the Philippines recently with a
second-hand World War II-vintage destroyer, amid high tension between
Manila and Beijing over the
Spratlys. Officials accompanying Clinton also said she will discuss offering another one.
Progressive organizations in the Philippines are wary of Clinton’s
visit. “January 2012 will mark 10 years of permanent presence of US
troops in Mindanao. While US troops in Iraq are set to leave at the end
of 2011, US troops in Mindanao appear to be staying indefinitely. There
is no known timetable or duration for their presence. Secretary
Clinton’s visit will likely reinforce this unequal and illegal
arrangement,” Reyes of Bayan said in a statement.
Protesters suspect Clinton will discuss the Mindanao conflict with Aquino. (Photo by Marya Salamat / bulatlat.com)
It is precisely because of such military aid that the Philippine
government “refuses to abrogate these two agreements (MDT and VFA), even
at great cost to our sovereignty,” said Reyes.
Thanks but no
“If Mrs. Clinton came to our country only to fortify their
intervention over Philippine military and economic affairs, then she
should go home and take away with her all the non-mutual treaties
between the US and the Philippines,” said the Anakpawis Partylist in a
statement.
“There had been no mutual ties between the US and the Philippines.
These treaties only benefited the US and its global hegemony,” Joel
Maglunsod, Anakpawis Executive Vice President, said of the Mutual
Defense Treaty (MDT). He added that “the only tie that binds the
Philippines and the US is the one that hangs the Filipino people by the
neck.”....
MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: h
ttp://bulatlat.com/main/2011/11/16/progressive-organizations-protest-against-un-mutual-treaties-during-clinton-visit/