For bloodier, dirtier all-out war, Duterte haggles for more US military aid by suspending VFA termination again
Read in: Waray
The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today said that Rodrigo Duterte has suspended termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) for the third time so he can negotiate for more US military aid and ramp up his all-out war against the Filipino people.
“By again suspending the termination of the VFA, keeping intact the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, and thus making sure that US imperialism retains its military foothold in the country and in the Asia-Pacific, Duterte once again betrays himself as US imperialism’s number one puppet. He wants the US to deliver him more arms, weapons, and military support so he can intensify further his regime’s military operations against the New People’s Army and other threats to his regime,” the NDF-EV said.
“By perpetuating US imperialism’s violation of our sovereign rights, Duterte once again commits treason against the Filipino people. More US military aid will spell even worse human rights abuses and brazen attacks by state forces against the people,” the NDF-EV said.
The NDF-EV added that Duterte suspended termination of the VFA because he is a coward grovelling for the support of US imperialism. “He is ready to commit more acts of treason to stay in power past the end of his term and not be held accountable by the Filipino people who wish to oust him immediately for his crimes. Because he is struggling to consolidate his own political alliance, he wants to be assured that US imperialism will back him in the 2022 elections and that he will retain political dominance thereafter, even though he is increasingly isolated from the people, other candidates who can replace him as puppet president are emerging, and he is internationally chastised for his bloody drug war.
“But by using US military support to intensify his attacks against the people, Duterte succeeds in uniting the broad masses to wage armed revolution and overthrow the current semicolonial and semifeudal system. He becomes an even more unfavorable puppet of US imperialism and risks being cast away and replaced, just as US imperialism did with the former dictator and his idol Ferdinand Marcos.”
The NDF-EV called on the Filipino people to condemn Duterte’s suspension of the termination of the VFA, demand for its complete abrogation, and oppose any move to renegotiate it. They must continually expose Duterte as the number one puppet of US imperialism and defender of its political, economic and military interests. They must also call on the international community to denounce the inrush of US military weapons, troops, and other forms of support for Duterte’s state terrorism.#