Manila playing dangerous game being US proxy

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr recently declared that the Philippines would not allow United States forces to launch attacks from Philippine territory in the event of a Taiwan Strait "conflict", insisting that his country has no intention of becoming a "belligerent".

Yet at the same time, his government continues to open Philippine military facilities to the US and Japan — facilities overlooking the waters east and southeast of China's Taiwan island and capable of supporting weapons systems with ranges that could reach deep into the region.

Actions speak louder than words. And Manila's actions are shouting: the Philippines is a US proxy.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the South China Sea, where the Philippines appears determined to turn provocation into policy.

Consider the rusting hulk at Ren'ai Reef. In 1999, the Philippine Navy deliberately grounded the aging BRP Sierra Madre on China's Ren'ai Reef and has maintained it there ever since as a de facto military outpost. For years, Manila has used resupply missions ostensibly for "humanitarian purposes" while attempting to bring construction materials to reinforce the vessel and consolidate its illegal foothold.

As Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for China's Ministry of National Defense, said on Thursday, China will not accept the Philippines delivering construction materials to the ship or building fixed facilities on the reef and will resolutely stop such actions in accordance with law.

Zhang urged Manila to tow away the illegally grounded vessel and cease its provocations.

Not content with maritime confrontation. On Aug 19, Manila dispatched Philippine military personnel, accompanied by US soldiers, to "scope" the premises of Sanjia Steel, a Chinese-invested steel plant in Misamis Oriental province. The team left only after being told it lacked written authorization to enter.

The episode indicates that the US military's footprint is extending beyond Philippine bases and into the country's domestic sphere.

The Pentagon's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency had already issued a report recommending that Washington support the Philippines in investigating alleged China-linked properties, businesses and labor recruitment near sites covered by Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. The Sanjia plant is less than 30 kilometers from one such site.

Against that backdrop, the involvement of US personnel looks like the implementation of a broader strategic agenda.

And what about the May 15 raid on the same facility, led by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr himself? Armed forces — rather than ordinary administrative or regulatory agencies — descended on the plant and detained dozens of Chinese workers. The subsequent appearance of US personnel at the same site only deepened the questions.

Once the logic of "national security" is allowed to override ordinary economic and legal procedures, any Chinese-linked company can be cast as "a security threat". That would hurt not only Chinese investors but the Philippines itself.

Teodoro's latest move — baselessly accusing domestic voices questioning Manila's South China Sea policy of receiving funding from Beijing — follows the familiar playbook of political demagoguery: when an argument is difficult to defend, attack the people making it.

Filipinos who question the wisdom of hosting additional foreign military forces or warn that such deployments could drag their country into a conflict do not become foreign "agents" merely because they advocate dialogue. Branding those voicing opposition to the moves as "traitors" is not a substitute for answering their arguments. It is an attempt to make legitimate debate politically toxic.

All of this points to a larger problem. US military and intelligence interests are becoming increasingly intertwined with Philippine economic and security policy. Under such a framework, Chinese-affiliated businesses, infrastructure projects and personnel can easily be viewed through a geopolitical rather than commercial lens.

This is how economic relations become "weaponized", and how sovereignty can be gradually hollowed out.

Teodoro is playing a dangerous role in that process. By aligning Philippine security policy ever more closely with Washington's containment of China, he risks turning the Philippines into a forward position in someone else's geopolitical games.

That is a poor bargain for the Filipino people.

The Philippines does not need to become a front-line state in a conflict over which it has little control. Nor does it benefit from allowing foreign military rivalry to dictate its economic and diplomatic choices. As some Philippine observers said, what the US offers the Philippines in economy, trade and technology is quite limited, mostly military related.

Manila can continue down the path of proxy confrontation. Or it can reclaim the diplomatic space necessary to pursue its own national interests.

A country does not preserve its sovereignty by choosing which foreign power gets to exercise influence over it. It preserves sovereignty by refusing to become a pawn in another country's game.