At a time when the Filipino people are burdened by soaring fuel prices, deepening energy insecurity, and a worsening cost-of-living crisis, plans to build a refueling and fuel storage depot in the Philippines exposes the utter insensitivity and war-driven priorities of the US-Marcos regime. While ordinary Filipinos struggle to afford fuel for daily survival, the US government in cahoots with the Marcos Jr regime, is investing in fuel depots for war, clearly in preparation for a major military confrontation against China.
These plans form part of a broader and alarming build-up of US-linked war infrastructure across the Philippines. Under the auspices of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the US and its allies in the region are exploring the construction of ammunition production facilities in the country. Even more alarming are reports of broader ambitions to transform parts of the Philippines into major weapons production hubs to support US military logistics in the Indo-Pacific.N
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines firmly rejects the deceptive narrative of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that these facilities are intended for “humanitarian assistance” or “disaster response.” Fuel depots, ammunition plants, and weapons manufacturing hubs are not humanitarian projects. They are essential components for sustained warfare. They are being constructed to ensure that US forces can wage prolonged military operations in the region.
We likewise condemn the AFP and the Marcos Jr. regime for their outright treachery and subservience to foreign imperialist interests. By allowing the proliferation of these facilities under EDCA and related agreements, they are effectively surrendering national sovereignty and transforming the Philippines into a forward operating base for US imperialist wars.
The US war against Iran has particularly exposed the grave dangers of hosting US military infrastructure. Countries that serve as staging grounds, supply hubs, or logistical nodes for US operations inevitably become targets in times of war.
The Philippines now faces this same peril. In the event of a full-scale war between the US and China, these US-linked facilities across the archipelago will become legitimate targets. It is ultimately the Filipino masses who will pay the price through displacement, destruction, and loss of life.
The NDFP calls on the Filipino people to resist US imperialist plans to transform the archipelago into a war hub against China. Marcos Jr. and the AFP must likewise be held accountable for their barefaced betrayal of national interests as they push the Filipino people closer to the dangers of inter-imperialist war. The widening contradictions between the Filipino masses and the US-Marcos regime form the objective basis for the advance of the people’s war in the countryside. The only way to prevent the Philippines from being turned into a battleground in a full-scale US-China war is by waging and winning the national democratic revolution.
