Global alliance of overseas Filipinos and families Migrante International criticized the Aquino government’s double standards on North Korea’s satellite launch testing vis a vis the US-NATO’s wars of aggression in Middle East-North Africa (MENA) and increased deployment of US troops in the Philippines and Asia Pacific.
“While the Aquino government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), is quick to condemn and raise the alarm on so-called repercussions of North Korea’s rocket testing, it continues to remain silent and in effect tolerates US-NATO wars of aggression and increased US military deployment in the Asia Pacific. The former has no direct targets while the latter poses serious consequences and in fact had already endangered Filipino nationals and peoples in affected countries,” said Migrante International chairperson Garry Martinez.
Martinez questioned the Aquino government’s impetus in toeing the US line on North Korea, saying that it is merely placing the Philippines in a “proxy warfare position” with North Korea when it clearly has no basis or interest of its own to interfere.
“We seriously question the Aquino government’s foreign policy of all-out support to the US at the expense of national sovereignty, as in the Spratlys issue and now with North Korea. By raising the alarm, the Aquino government in effect aids in justifying another possible US-led intervention on North Korea based on biased notions and pre-conceived scenarios,” he said.
“The Aquino government and the international community would do well to remember how the US justified its war of aggression on Iraq founded on the alleged presence of weapons of mass destruction. To this day, however, no evidence of which have been found while the war left behind countless cases of human rights violations and irreparable harm to the Iraqi nation,” he said.
Martinez said that instead of “playing puppet and placing the Philippines in the crossfire”, the Aquino government should instead focus its efforts on developing an independent foreign policy that would genuinely benefit the Filipino people and the nation.
He also reiterated the group’s opposition to increased military presence in the Philippines through heightened Balikatan exercises starting April.###
