FILIPINOS have short memories indeed. Suppose one looks and closely examines most, if not all, of the country’s perpetual problems, which are recurrent precisely because we have short memories. We are not learning lessons from our historical experience as a country. We never learn from our history, which should have been our best teacher.

For instance, it seems that Filipinos, especially those politicians who are pushing for the furtherance and strengthening of defense and military ties with Japan, pushing for joint military exercises with the Japanese, with the plan of forming a security, defense and military triad between Japan, the United States, and the Philippines targeting the country’s good neighbor, China, have forgotten that Manila was one of the most devastated cities in World War 2.

It seems that those people, especially our politicians, who are pushing for all these, have already forgotten that the Philippines was invaded by Japan not because it was at war with Japan during the Second World War. The country was invaded by Japan precisely because it was home to the largest US military installation outside the United States. Hence, the Philippines became a battleground of the war between Japan and the US.

It seems that the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., together with its blind supporters — who approved the glaring US neocolonialism of the Philippines through the full implementation of EDCA, the approval of the four EDCA bases facing Taiwan and near the disputed South China Sea (SCS), the approval of enhanced joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) between the US and the Philippines, which is a recipe for disaster in the South China Sea, disrupting the peace and stability of Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region, the approval of opening the country to the deployment of more US troops and military assets on Philippine soil — have short memories and have forgotten that the Americans are our former colonial masters who exploited the country, have used and made us their longtime defense and security outpost in the Asia-Pacific region until today.

Are we really a nation that never learns from its own history? Are we that blind that we can’t see with our eyes that the country is being militarized by the US and converted into a huge US aircraft carrier in the Asia-Pacific region for the war it wants to wage against China?

US’ wicked plan

Filipinos must open their eyes. The militarization of the Philippines is underway for the will and caprice of the United States together with its allies in the Asia-Pacific region, the likes of Japan, in preparation for the war that the US has been trying to orchestrate for the longest time now against our neighbor China.

The US has been trying to instigate this impending war with China for some time now at the expense of our country and the Asian region for four selfish fetishes of the Americans. These are a) the preservation of US hegemony; b) preservation of a unipolar world led by the US that is being challenged by the rise of China and other regional powers in different parts of the world, ushering in the shift from a unipolar world to a multipolar one; c) preservation of US supremacy and US exceptionalism; and d) containing the rise of China in every possible way and every aspect may it be economically, geopolitically, militarily and even culturally speaking.

Take note; the Americans are pretty afraid of the peaceful rise of China and the rise of Asia or the so-called Asian century, China being at the forefront of the rise of Asia. The Americans will exert all efforts to preserve their hegemony in the world, even at the expense of destroying Asia, for that matter. They will wage war with China to ensure that they remain a hegemon who dictates and controls the world at the expense of many countries and people. This is the glaring truth that we should not be blind and should not turn a blind eye, for this will destroy our country and Asia in every possible way.

This is no joke. We are facing a world that is on the brink of World War 3. We are in the most dangerous geopolitical and economic situation since 1945.

The Ukraine crisis, a hybrid proxy war between the US and its NATO allies against Russia, is a playbook that the US would like to stage in our region, the Philippines being the collateral damage, the proxy, the pawn, and the newly acquired military asset of the US in its planned war against China with the sole purpose of containing China’s modernization, economic development, and rise as a contending power.

Imagine our country has been reduced by the US as an “asset,” disrespecting our sovereignty and independence as a nation-state. This is quite a colossal insult to the Philippines and the Filipinos beyond imagination.

But the critical question for most Asians and Filipinos, in particular, is, would we allow the Americans to succeed in their wicked plans at our expense? Would we allow a military crisis or a war to take a foothold in our relatively peaceful region, the Asia-Pacific? I say, No!

Conclusion

As a nation and as Filipinos, we should say “No” to the glaring US neocolonialism of the Philippines.

We should say “No” to the full implementation of EDCA, the four EDCA bases facing Taiwan and near the disputed South China Sea.

We should say “No” to the enhanced joint patrol in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) between the US and the Philippines.

We should say “No” to deploying more US troops and military assets on Philippine soil.

We should say “No” to the triad military alliance or pact between the Philippines, Japan and the US, a Cold War tactic being staged by the Americans targeting China.

We should say “No” to a president of this country who is capitulating and bowing down to the pressure, will, and caprice of Uncle Sam, for this will lead to a perilous situation for our country.

If the worse comes to worst, if things go wrong and a war in the Asia/Indo-Pacific region breaks out, the Philippines will end up the collateral damage. This war will devastate us beyond our imagination. Hence, we should not allow ourselves and our country to be used as a pawn or proxy of the US chess match with China.

We should learn from the mishaps of the Ukrainians and their US puppet President Zelenskyy.

Again, the Ukraine crisis is a hybrid proxy war between Russia and the US alongside its NATO allies, and Ukraine is the pawn. Do we want our country to end up like Ukraine?

I really hope not. We need to do something to oppose the militarization of our country. The clock is ticking. Time is of the essence.

Prof. Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy is a PhD economics candidate at the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development at China’s Peking University. She is an analyst, director and vice president for external affairs of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), a Manila-based think tank.