SEVERAL rights and advocacy groups have assailed the Balikatan, or "Shoulder to Shoulder," combat drills participated by over 17,000 soldiers from allied nations amid rising global conflicts involving Iran, China, and escalating tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
“This [Balikatan] places us directly in the line of fire. The US-Iran War is a watershed moment to revisit the country’s military alliance with the US. It did not work for the Gulf States who were besieged with Iranian missiles, it will not work for us,” said lawyer and rights leader Aaron Pedrosa, secretary general of Sanlakas, a progressive coalition of marginalized sectors.
“It only works for US interests. People are struggling to make ends meet, the last thing we need is to be unnecessarily pushed to the frontlines of yet another theatre of war,” he said.
It is high time to abrogate the Mutual Defense Treaty, Visiting Forces Agreement, and Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, and for the Philippine Government to tread the path of peace by pursuing a genuinely independent foreign policy, Pedrosa told SunStar Philippines.
The MDT, which started in 1951, and was enhanced in 1999 through VFA, and EDCA in 2014, served as “foundation for the close security cooperation” between the Philippines and the United States to deter aggression and improve interoperability between the two allied nations.
Renato Reyes Jr., president of progressive group Bayan, said the Balikatan exercises “are a shameful display of subservience to US interests in a time when US imperialism is wrecking havoc on the global economy and carrying out war crimes in Iran.”
“The Philippine government is deceiving the people when it says the exercises stand to benefit the Philippines in its dispute with China. If anything, the exercises create a most unfavorable atmosphere for the peaceful resolution of such a dispute,” he added.
The 19-day “biggest ever” war drills, joined by the US, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, and New Zealand, started on April 20.
U.S. Charge d’ Affaires, Ad interim Y. Robert Ewing, during the opening ceremonies of the joint military exercise at Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Manila, maintained that Balikatan “reflects the dynamic and evolving nature of our Alliance – one that continues to strengthen our collective ability to address increasingly complex regional and global challenges.”
“Yet Balikatan is more than a military exercise, just as our Alliance is more than a security partnership. It is also about delivering real, tangible benefits to communities,” he said.
The Humanitarian Civic Assistance programs include working hand-in-hand with local partners to build classrooms, health facilities, and multi-purpose structures.
In Tacloban City, Philippine Army’s personnel from the Artillery Regiment joined with US Army medics in a three-day Tactical Combat Casualty Care training that ended on April 22 at the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport.
“Beyond instruction, the engagement also became a platform for mutual knowledge exchange, where Philippine Army personnel shared field-tested techniques and operational insights that may differ from US practices—highlighting the value of two-way learning in enhancing overall mission effectiveness,” Captain Christopher Tataro, spokesperson of 8th Infantry Division, said in a statement on April 22.
‘Balikatan’ as military alignment
As this developed, Reverend Irma Balaba, spokesperson of Promotion of Church Peopleʼs Response, a progressive ecumenical group of ordained and lay church people, rejected the war games in civilian communities.
“We strongly condemn the continued conduct of large-scale US–Philippine joint military exercises in Tacloban,” Balaba said.
“These exercises are not neutral. They dangerously transform Eastern Visayas—and the Philippines as a whole—into a frontline of geopolitical rivalry and a potential staging ground for wars not of our people’s choosing,” she added.
Instead of addressing poverty, livelihood crises, disaster recovery, and essential social services, public resources and state priorities are being redirected toward war preparations and military alignment, according to Balaba.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun, in an April 20 news briefing in Beijing, criticized the joint military drills in the Philippines, saying: “What the Asia-Pacific region most needs is peace and tranquility, and what it least needs is the introduction of external forces to create division and confrontation.” (Ronald O. Reyes/SunStar Philippines)
