All people should demand their senators to block $5.58 billion Arms Sale to Philippine Government!

The United States State Department approved the sale of $5.58 billion of weapons to the Philippines on April 1st following U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to the Philippines. The sale is in-line with the Trump Administration’s plans to “re-establish deterrence” against China which means more US troops, ships, and other war equipment in the Philippines.

As part of the package, the Philippines is poised to receive twenty F16 aircrafts, a multi-role fighter aircraft used for air-to-air and air-to-surface combat with a range of 1,260 miles. Four of these are two-seaters, the same ones typically used on ground targets in Palestine. Additionally, the package contains shorter-range air-to-surface missiles intended for ground targets which can be used domestically.

We are concerned that based on the record of the Marcos administration, the weapons will be used against the Filipino people. We have seen a constant onslaught of aerial bombings by the administration against their people without any regard for civilian life or international humanitarian law. A recent example was an aerial attack by FA-50 fighter jets which dropped eight bombs indiscriminately against the people while claiming they were support for an engagement with the New People’s Army. These attacks terrorize rural communities, forcing people to live in fear and often impacting their livelihoods.

Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said that funding for the $5.58 billion weapons could be funded through a “possible combination” of the Philippine annual budget for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and a loan between Manila and Washington. This would be a massive diversion of funds which are better spent on the Filipino people suffering economic crisis. The fact the Philippine government doesn't have enough funds to afford F16 Aircrafts is even illegal and should prevent the arms sale from going through!

We must oppose this arms sale to the fascist Marcos administration in the Philippines as it will enable the ongoing attacks on peasants and indigenous peoples in the countryside! US militarization and intervention in the Philippines is an assault against the Filipino peoples right to sovereignty and self determination, and we must bring attention to the role of the US in continuing to back war criminals in the Philippines and demand an end to US support of the Marcos Regime!