Roperos: US presence here

Friday, February 10, 2012

REPORTS say that the United States is planning to send a second coast guard cutter to the Philippines as part of efforts to boost the country’s military strength “amid tensions at sea with China.” Last year, the US gave the Philippine navy its Hamilton cutter, which was made the flagship of the country’s “notoriously dilapidated navy.”

While the Philippines’ left-leaning sector is gravely critical of what it feels is an effort by the US to restore its military bases in Zambales province’s Subic Naval Base and Tarlac’s Clark Airbase, still there is a general feeling that the military situation obtaining in the country has entirely changed.

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The Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries have accused China of “bellicose behavior over disputes in the South China Sea.” With these security considerations, the country welcomes US troops on its soil.

I believe that the developing geopolitical circumstance in our part of the globe has necessitated a more independent and objective consideration of our country’s security in relation to, and not merely limited to its ties with the US as a former American colony. It is important that we should now learn to stand on our own in relation to the rest of Southeast Asia. Hence, leftist or nationalist critics of yore should start changing and reversing gear.

A US lawmaker and a Pentagon official were reported to have told a congressional hearing about the imperatives of extending military assistance to the Philippines.

Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from Southern California “whose district has a significant Filipino-American community,” claims that the US and the Philippines want “peace and stability in the (Asian) region, which is (a) key to the global economy.” He said this while chairing the hearing of a US House Foreign Affairs sub-committee.

On the other hand, the top civilian official at the Pentagon who is “handling East Asia” pointed out that the US is “considering a range of military capabilities” as it helps the Philippines transform its defense policies from one focused on its traditional domestic threats to one that looks toward external military concerns from foreign sources.

It means a shift on the part of the US to its domestic security concerns, and so containing potential threat in distant fronts, rather than right than right on its doorstep.

This is a reversal of foreign policy stance. Where before it was the US that needed to have external protection against potential foreign aggressors, this time though, we are the one needing security from foreign potential aggressors, and the US is extending us the support by providing us the “tools” so we can organize our own protection.

This, to me, appears to be the current reality in US-PH security ties.