US PEACE MISSION FLAGS RAMPANT CORRUPTION AND DISRUPTIVE IMPACT OF US MILITARY INTERVENTION
Quezon City—This November, 35 delegates from across the U.S. representing BAYAN USA and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines traveled to the Philippines as part of a peace mission to understand the impacts of U.S. militarism in the country. Delegates visited communities in Cagayan Valley, Ilocos, Central Luzon, Mindanao, and Cebu and observed EDCA sites and other important military facilities and sites while there.
The mission comes amid heightening U.S. militarism, including the deployment of long-range missile systems such as the Typhon, plans to build an ammunition factory in Subic Bay, and the conduct of the largest Balikatan exercise this year featuring the first use of live-fire exercises at sea. These actions put the country in the crosshairs of any escalation in military aggression between the U.S. and China.
Delegates spoke to workers near Basa Air Base in Floridablanca who expressed concern that the Philippines would be dragged into unnecessary war due to U.S. warmongering with other countries. “The Philippines has no enemies on its own, but the U.S. does, which puts the Philippines in the middle,” said a local community member by the base. Communities across the country thought war had already arrived during U.S. military exercises and now oppose the return of future exercises.
Delegates learned that U.S. intervention and militarism threatened the safety, well-being, and livelihood of poor Filipinos, namely workers, fisherfolk, farmers, and internally displaced peoples due to conflict and calamity. During the April 2025 Balikatan exercises, fisherfolk in Cagayan were prevented from fishing for 15 days, leading to a loss of at least 2 weeks’ worth of income without any compensation by the U.S. Children in the area also described encountering ammunition left on the ground after the exercises without warning of whether or not they were live.
Community members also took delegates to sites of incomplete and substandard flood control projects, where they saw the impact of rampant corruption. They gave testimony on their inability to secure a stable livelihood while witnessing the theft of billions of pesos supposedly allocated to serve their needs. As systemic corruption in the Philippines deprives ordinary Filipinos of their basic means for survival, millions of dollars’ worth of resources are being poured into U.S. military projects that do not support ordinary Filipinos, instead placing them in more precarious situations.
Delegates who visited Cebu in the wake of the recent earthquake and Typhoon Tino noted this firsthand. They saw areas that had never flooded before but became more susceptible after local mangroves were destroyed and replaced with a shoddy flood control project. Delegate Roy Kim shared the account of a family whose house was devastated after Tino: “A mother broke down in tears telling the story of their floor collapsing, making their house unlivable. The government classified their home as only partially destroyed, so they did not qualify for aid.” While the U.S. military boasts that its EDCA sites exist to help deliver disaster aid, community members in Cebu reported receiving no support from the nearby site after Tino. It raised questions for delegates about whether the millions of dollars being poured into EDCA facilities are in fact funding just another joint “ghost” project between the two governments.
Despite these conditions, Filipinos continue to fight for their rights, even in the face of repression. In Aurora, fisherfolk protested the insufficient aid received after the typhoons, in spite of local officials threatening to cut access to aid entirely as retaliation. Delegates drew inspiration from the persistence and courage of Filipinos they met and committed to sharing their stories and demands to end U.S. intervention and stop corruption in the Philippines upon return.
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