Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas today strongly condemned the December 26 passage of the US Carrier Strike Group One led by USS Carl Vinson between Leyte and Mindanao, describing it as “a brazen display of US military might that violates Philippine sovereignty.”
“This is not just ships passing in the night. The USS Carl Vinson and its strike group represent the continuing US military aggression and intervention in Philippine affairs,” the House of Representatives Assistant Minority Leader said.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), along with several of its escort warships “transited” through the Surigao Strait on its way to Port Klang Cruise Terminal in Selangor, Malaysia where it docked last Sunday, December 29, according to the U.S. Naval Institute’s (USNI) online news portal.
Brosas however said the carrier strike group’s passage through Philippine waters is a clear violation of Philippine sovereignty and independence, also criticizing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for allowing the activity.
“Marcos Jr. is allowing the US military to use the Philippines as a giant military outpost,” Brosas said.
“Instead of defending our sovereignty, Marcos is allowing dangerous US war games and military activities in our territory. This dangerous collaboration includes the storage of weapons systems and granting of extraterritorial rights to US forces,” the Makabayan coalition senate aspirant said.
The lawmaker emphasized that the nuclear-capable warship’s presence, along with its escort ships USS William P. Lawrence, USS Sterett, and USS Princeton, poses serious risks to Filipino communities.
Brosas and fellow Makabayan representatives earlier condemned the presence of mid-range US Typhon-type missiles as another proof that the US is using the Philippines as its forward military base against its rival China.
USNI News said the USS Carl Vinson had passed through the Philippines on multiple occasions, including for port visits and routine operations.
The US carrier visited Manila for “port visits” in 2015 and 2018.
“We call on all freedom-loving Filipinos to resist this continuing US military intervention. We are not America’s playground or Pentagon’s extension. Our sovereignty is non-negotiable, and we must assert independence from US control,” Brosas said.
Earlier, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) strongly denounced the US carrier strike group’s passage as a show of brute military force.
The CPP said the activity is “a gross affront on the dignity and senses of freedom-loving Filipino people.”
“It tramples on the country’s sovereignty, bringing down further its status as a neocolony of US imperialism. It underscores how the country is being used as a launching pad for US power-projection operations in the Pacific and as pawn in escalating inter-imperialist tensions and provocations against its rival China,” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said in a statement January 1.
Valbuena said the CPP joins the Filipino people in denouncing the Marcos Jr. government in acting as a US puppet regime and for its complicity in the affront on Philippine sovereignty.
“For three years now, the Marcos regime has allowed the US military to further entrench its power in the Philippines and to turn the entire country into one big US military base and fortress of US imperialism,” the CPP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
