1. Gary Leupp, professor of history, wrote:
"The Philippines was a US colony from 1898 to 1946.
"One-tenth of the Filipino population was wiped out in the first US exercise in counter-insurgency in Asia.
"The US backed a series of vicious regimes after the Philippines' (alleged) independence, most notably that of Ferdinand Marcos." (Gary Leupp: Why This War Is Wrong)
2. The book 'Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines', by University of the Philippines professor Walden Bello, describes how:
"the World Bank, the CIA and other US agencies have systematically plundered the domestic economy of the Philippines for transnational corporate interests, privatization, and deregulation -
"and how the 'Asian market crisis' of the late 1990s was the direct result of such programs.'"
3. Herbert Docena, at Asia Times, 28 February 2008, has written about the growing US military presence in the Philippines:
"The United States has been deploying a growing number of its troops, ships and equipment all over the Philippines ostensibly for training exercises, humanitarian and engineering projects, and other missions. In 2006 alone, up to 37 military exercises were scheduled - up from around 24 in the preceding years. As many as 6,000 US troops are involved, depending on the exercise...
"Along with troops, an increasing number of ships have also been entering the country's territorial waters and docking at various ports with growing frequency...
"The US has also been constructing an increasing number of structures and facilities that could be useful for the US military when the contingency arises - while at the same time allowing it to buy political support from the national and local governments...
"In November 2002, the US and Philippine governments signed the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), which researchers with the US Congressional Research Service describe as 'allowing the United States to use the Philippines as a supply base for military operations throughout the region'...
"Since 2002, a unit now called the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTFP) has been deployed to the southern Philippines ... for the last six years...
"Most recently, US troops have been accused of joining Filipino soldiers when they perpetrated what was described as a massacre of innocent civilians in Sulu.
"In terms of profile and mission, the JSOTF-P is similar to the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-Horn of Africa) - which was established in Djibouti in eastern Africa in 2003, also composed mostly of Special Forces, and which has been described as the 'model for future US military operations'...
"The US military presence in the Philippines appears to be part of the US drive toward global military dominance in general, and, in particular, of the emerging US strategy towards China...
"Indonesia and Malaysia, on the other hand, have not only openly castigated US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, they have also rejected US demands to station in and operate from their countries.
"Even Thailand, which is a close US ally, has actually rejected US overtures to be allowed to station ships in or to deploy troops to its territory.
"Regardless of their attitudes toward the United States, most countries in the region simply do not see China as a threat and have therefore refused to go along any strategy that could antagonize it."
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