Filipinos protest military ties with US
Posted by seumasach on January 28, 2012
28th January, 2012
People in the Philippines have gathered in front of the US Embassy in the capital city, Manila, to protest the expansion of military ties with Washington, demanding the withdrawal of American troops.
The Saturday protest, organized by the leftist New Nationalist Alliance (Bayan), was staged to denounce the ongoing negotiations between Manila and Washington to deploy more US troops and ships in the Philippines.
“If we allow more US troops to enter our country, the entire archipelago will be transformed into one military outpost for US hegemonic interests,” Bayan announced in a statement distributed at the rally.
Philippine officials say they plan to hold more joint military drills and let more US troops rotate through the southeast Asian country, which is already involved in increasingly tense territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
The Philippines used to be home to huge US military bases before the Philippine Senate voted to shut them down in 1992.
Washington and Manila say the ongoing talks are not aimed at establishing new military bases in the Philippines and they merely seek more joint exercises and more rotation of US troops through the country.
