Bagong Alyansang Makabayan–Southern Mindanao (Bayan-SMR) sharply condemned the US military for constructing a large oil depot on the Davao Gulf coast. The depot’s plan was first announced in August 2025. Bidding for its construction opened this April. The contract is exclusive to American companies.
“We strongly condemn the US plan to build an oil depot on the western coast of Davao Gulf,” Bayan-SMR said in an April 12 statement.
The depot violates Philippine sovereignty as it aligns with the US imposition of hegemony over the country and the Pacific, and its preparations for an imperialist war against China. Called the Defense Fuel Support Point (DFSP), the depot will serve as a “gas station” for US warships and warplanes throughout Asia.
The group also denounced the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) statement that Davaoeños have “nothing to worry about” since the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) covers the project. Bayan-SMR said the AFP is downplaying the DFSP as a potential target for US enemies. The Philippines is already a major target because of the succesive and large-scale war games being conducted by the US on the country’s seas, land, and airspace. This March to April, the US is staging overlapping war exercises in various parts of the country under Salaknib–Cope Thunder–Balikatan 2026.
“These activities not only heighten tensions in the region, they also expose communities to threats in the form of human rights violations, environmental destruction, and militarization of civilian spaces—all in the name of pushing US strategic interests in Asia,” Bayan-SMR warned.
Target of US enemies
The US itself admitted that placing the DFSP in Davao is an alternative to its fuel depots in Luzon facing the South China Sea, which it said are “vulnerable to attack by China.” The DFSP is part of the US Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO), a logistical dispersal strategy meant to make its assets harder to target compared to storing them at large, concentrated bases that can easily be destroyed.
It is a form of strategic fuel prepositioning for faster maneuvering of US forces once a “high-intensity conflict” or armed confrontation erupts in the region. The depot serves no actual use or benefit to the Philippines—not even to the AFP, and not to the Filipino people. Instead, it will bring immediate danger to surrounding communities and their livelihoods.
The Davao DFSP will replace the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, which was closed in 2022 after severe fuel leaks contaminated the drinking water of thousands of residents in Hawaii. After Red Hill’s forced shut down, the US sought new locations to store fuel for its Central Pacific operations. One of the sites it chose is Davao. Reports also say it plans storage extensions in Papua New Guinea and Australia.
The US will stock up to 41 million US gallons (155.2 million liters) of fuel in Davao for its warships and warplanes patrolling the South China Sea, Celebes Sea, and across the first island chain. This amount equals 40% of what was once stored at Red Hill.
Subservient regime
Bayan-SMR criticized the Marcos regime for its “outright servility to US imperialism, opening the country wide to its control.” It cited the signing of the Bilateral Defense Guidelines, the deployment of the Typhon missile system in Northern Luzon, and the continuing expansion of EDCA sites as steps that further drag the country into US incited wars.
Bayan-SMR challenged the local governments of Davao City and Davao del Sur to oppose the DFSP and defend national sovereignty against foreign military forces. The group also demanded scrapping all military agreements such as the VFA and MDT, as these allow prolonged and permanent presence of US troops and military equipment in the country.
