Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines David Bruce Hartman and the Philippines’ Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. sign an MOU on defence cooperation on January 29, 2024.
Source: Google/CanadianFilipino.net

Written by: Barbara Waldern

The Canadian Ministry of National Defense is working towards free access in the Philippines. Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines David Bruce Hartman and the Philippines’ Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for defense cooperation on January 19, 2024.

This agreement signals further cooperation with US occupation and its extending militarization of the Pacific to maintain domination. This MOU may give rise to a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Canadian and Philippines governments. Canada continues to collaborate with the US in preparing for war with China, and maintains its willingness to suppress peoples’ liberation movements.

Canada’s Part in the Militarization of the Indo-Pacific and the Economic Aims Behind It

The US military has occupied the Philippines for decades though the people’s liberation movement has pushed back. The people succeeded in getting the two existing US bases shut down in the 1990s, building on the ousting of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. Once the right-wing retook power, it made a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US in 1998, permitting the US general access to the entire Philippines archipelago.

The 1998 VFA with the US, followed approval of the Mining Act in 1995 which permitted transnational mining corporations to grab and command indigenous and farming lands. It boosted the Philippines’ state crackdown on civilian and armed revolutionary resistance to its neo-liberal policies and servility to foreign corporations. Philippines’ ruling elite, servile to the US, could not keep down the people’s movement for liberation and genuine democracy without the material aid of the US, though. The US funds, trains and equips the Philippines National Army and National Police. It also keeps boots on the ground.

Agreements such as the VFA are among numerous sprouting pacts and joint military exercises between the US and its allies not only in Eastern Asian and South Pacific waters but in Australian/Melanesian South Asian waters as well. The US military continues to occupy South Korea, Japan and Guam as well as the Philippines, where it has been expanding its bases. Japan is considering a similar pact with Manila, a possible Reciprocal Access Agreement. US and its allies collaborate in trying to intimidate the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China, and strongly discouraging the peoples of the region from taking up socialism.

Canada’s Hope for a VFA with the Philippines

Canada has been involved in the US-led militarization of the Indo-Pacific region all along. It has been participating in the RIMPAC exercises—happening around the Hawaiian archipelago this month—since their start in 1971. Its frigates patrol the Seas of Japan and South China. The Canadian government politically supports US puppets in Asia, irrespective of repression inflicted upon these populations. It does so for the benefit of Canada-based mining corporations.

Carlito Pablo of CanadianFilipino.net wrote that the VFA will permit Canadians to be engaged in education, information-sharing, (so-called) peacemaking operations, training and disaster response on Philippines territory. Pablo explains that the VFA would allow the Philippines the use of Canada’s Dark Vessel Detecion (DVD) system. He further notes that this was one event of the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Canada’s diplomatic relations with the Philippines state. Canada has voiced alarm about what it claims are ‘China’s acts of intimidation’ against the Philippines in the disputed areas of the South China Sea.

The International People’s Tribunal Confirms US Complicity in the Crimes of the Philippines State

The International People’s Tribunal is a long-established process of documenting violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Philippines. It is composed of faith-based organizations, lawyers and human rights advocates, including some based in Canada. The People’s Tribunal (IPT) met in Brussels, Belgium, over two days in May 2024. It convened under the title, “The International War Crimes Tribunal on the US-Directed Counterrevolutionary War in the Philippines.” Leaders of the organizations behind IPT reported back to West Coast Canadian and US supporters on July 10, 2024. A press release announced the verdict as follows:

The International Peoples Tribunal (IPT) on Saturday May 18th issued a guilty verdict to Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Rodrigo Duterte, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the United States government for war crimes against the Filipino people and violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Occupying the Philippines with thousands of military personnel over the decades, the US has funded, trained and arms the forces of the Philippines military dictatorship in the common aim of defeating revolution and maintaining an Asian Pacific base of operations in schemes to challenge China. Armed guerrilla fighting persisting for democracy and national liberation since the 1960s, the armed rebellion in the Philippines has long been formally recognized internationally. Atrocities against civilians and violations of the rules of war have been revealed and acknowledged by various formal bodies including the UN High Commission on Human Rights. Atrocities have been multiplying and intensifying, as US unipolarity is in complete free-fall.

Opposition to the Canada-Philippines Defence MOU

Canada maintains normal diplomatic and trade relations with subsequent Philippines governments, without care for violent repression of their population. The Canadian branch of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) convened in Ottawa in May this year. After their congress, ICHRP-Canada met with MP John McKay, Christine Normandin, Lindsay Mathison, Members of the National Defense Parliamentary Committee to discuss Canada’s defense cooperation with the Philippines and expressed concerns regarding the human rights situation in the country, particularly concentrating on Philippine human rights defenders.

The ICHRP-Canada’s Chair, Rev. Patricia Lisson, commented as follows:

It is abundantly clear that the MOU Canada has signed does not place human rights or ethical concerns as a cornerstone of defense collaboration or as a necessary requirement for conducting trade with the Philippines.

Informed of Canada’s desire to increase the militarization of the Philippines and surrounding region and further provoke China alongside the US, Canadians have a chance to prevent the signing of a Canada-Philippines VFA. A popular movement could aim at stopping Canada’s direct military engagement in a foreign territory through advocacy. The future is not locked in yet.

Barbara Waldern is a peace activist residing in Metro Vancouver, BC, who, holding a Masters in social science, has worked in international educational support services.

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