By CPP Information Bureau
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said the recovery of a US Navy drone off the coast of Quezon indicates continuing US surveillance and intervention in the country.
The drone, recovered by fishermen in Patnanungan, Quezon last January 4, has property markings of the US Navy. It is similar to a drone recovered by fishermen off the coast of Masbate last 2013. “The US embassy has described these as aerial target drones.”
“The drones recovered in Quezon and Masbate form only part of extensive US military operations and intervention in the Philippines and elsewhere, which include surveillance operations, logistical and intelligence support, as well as direct participation in combat operations.”
“The US military, in connivance with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), has long been flying and operating surveillance drones in the Philippines for more than ten years now, in clear and outright violation of Philippine sovereignty,” said the CPP. “US surveillance operations in the country also involves internet and telecommunication spying.”
“US drone surveillance has been targetting operations of the New People’s Army (NPA) as well as other armed groups, and has been a critical aspect in some field combat operations of the AFP,” pointed out the CPP. Similar crash landings of US drones have occurred and reported over the past several years.
“The Filipino people condemn US military intervention in counter-guerrilla operations in the Philippines,” said the CPP. “The US has long been making use of the AFP in its proxy war against the Filipino people’s anti-imperialist forces.”
“The US-designed and -directed Oplan Bayanihan of the AFP and the Aquino regime have brought great hardships to millions of Filipinos who have borne the brunt of militarization in the countryside and widespread abuses of human rights.”
