"The Aquino government is celebrating independence day while showing colonial subservience to the US on the issue of the Spratly Islands. Noynoy Aquino is reminding the people of Emilio Aguinaldo who declared independence while welcoming the incoming colonization of the country by the US."
This was labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno's statement in time for the Aquino government's celebration of independence day amidst tensions with China over the Spratlys, saying the government is talking tough to China to justify greater US military presence in the country.
"The Aquino government is issuing war-mongering statements against China while almost begging the US to intervene on the issue by asking the latter to sell weapons to the country and expand military presence here. It is celebrating independence while showing nothing less than colonial subservience to US geopolitical interests in this part of the world," said Elmer "Bong" Labog, KMU chairperson.
"It does not take a genius to see that the US considers China a military threat, towards which its policy is economic engagement and military containment. The US and China may be partners economically, but the US is seeing China as a possible military rival," he added.
KMU said Pres. Aquino is reminding the Filipino workers and people of Emilio Aguinaldo, who in proclaiming the country's "independence" was welcoming the then-impending colonization by the US of the country.
It said the "Philippine Declaration of Independence," which was read by Aguinaldo on June 12, 1898 clearly recognizes that the country is "under the protection of the Powerful and Humanitarian Nation, the United States of America" in the same sentence that it invokes God as a witness.
"Aguinaldo and Aquino are showing the Filipino workers and people the kind of independence which the country can have under the presidency of a colonial haciendero: a fake one, free only to serve the US. Aguinaldo welcomed the American colonization of the country while Aquino is strengthening American neo-colonial control over the country as shown by its actions on the Spratlys issue," Labog said.
"When the US was justifying the colonization of the Philippines to the American people at the turn of the century, it was referring to, in the words of US Sen. Albert J. Beveridge, China's 'illimitable markets.' Now, the US and the Aquino government are justifying US military buildup in the country by referring to the so-called military threat being posed by China," he added.###
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form: www.kilusangmayouno.org
