The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) stated today that Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s state visit to the United States from July 20 to 22 is an urgent summons from Donald Trump to receive clear instructions from his imperialist master ahead of his fourth State of the Nation Address on July 28.
“By summoning Marcos, Trump aims to secure US economic and military interests in the Philippines,” said Marco Valbuena, Chief Information Officer of the CPP. Valbuena said Trump wants assurances that US exports to the Philippines will not be met with counter-tariffs in response to his push to raise tariffs on all US imports, and that the US military will be allowed greater and expanded presence in the Philippines.
The planned visit was first announced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the ASEAN Regional Forum and the US-Philippines-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meetings held last July 9 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was later confirmed by Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro.
“Trump plans to use the recently announced 20% tariff on Philippine exports as leverage to exact even bigger deals with the Philippines in favor of US interests,” added Valbuena. “It is certain that Marcos’ state visit to the US and scheduled talk with Trump will shape his policy declarations that are to be delivered during his upcoming SONA.”
“Consistent with his record of subservience to the US, Marcos will undoubtedly assure Trump that American electronics and so-called green energy investments in the Philippines will be given favorable policies including tax-free operations and the zero-tariff importation,” added Valbuena. “In his SONA, Marcos is sure to declare more programs and policies on liberalization, privatization, deregulation and denationalization as dictated by the US.”
“The incoming 20th Congress lorded over by bureaucrat capitalists, and representatives of big bourgeois compradors and big landlords, are set to applaud and welcome Marcos’ US-dictated policy declarations, and pass legislation to support US imperialist interests,” the CPP officer said.
“These policies will deepen the neocolonial economic status of the Philippines and cause the dispossession of more and more Filipinos as plunderous American and other multinational corporations take away their land and sources of livelihood,” said Valbuena.
“The Marcos state visit to the US will also serve to assure the US of unimpeded access to the Philippines, in line with its aim of using the country as a war logistics hub, playground for war exercises, and springboard for military operations in the region,” Valbuena added.
He pointed out how tens of thousands of US troops are now almost permanently stationed in US military facilities in the Philippines, conducting successive and non-stop military maneuvers in line with its Indo-Pacific Strategy of “containing” China’s growth. “US military presence and war exercises heighten tensions in the region and impede the peaceful resolution of maritime conflicts between the Philippines and China.”
“In the face of US war instigations that endanger the lives and safety of the Filipino people and violate the country’s national sovereignty, it is incumbent upon the Filipino people to unite and stand up against Marcos’ puppetry to the US imperialists,” he added
