📷Former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani ZarateÂ
Former Bayan Muna Congressman Carlos Isagani Zarate today strongly criticized the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ plan to acquire Typhon missile systems, warning that such moves further entrench the Philippines in dangerous military alignments that compromise our nation’s safety.
“We denounce the Marcos Jr. administration’s US-satellite like foreign policy, which has contributed to bringing the world to the brink of a renewed nuclear arms race, instead of amity, goodwill and peace among nations,” Zarate declared. “This vassal-like subservience to foreign powers, particularly the US, gravely puts our country’s interests and security at risk.”
The progressive solon emphasized that the missile acquisition plan makes the Philippines a potential target in conflicts not of its own making. “Ang pagbili ng Typhon missiles ay maglalagay lamang sa ating bansa sa mas malaking panganib. The Filipino people should rightfully and strongly denounce both the Marcos Jr administration and the US for making and marking the country as target of nuclear warheads from countries not necessarily the enemies of the Philippines and the Filipino people.”
“Hindi solusyon ang pagbili ng mga high-tech na armas na ito. We demand that the Marcos Jr administration abide by the constitutional edicts of pursuing an independent foreign policy and making the Philippines free of nuclear arms and foreign troops,” Zarate stressed.
“This kind of defense spending will only put a heavy strain on our already debt-saddled national budget, will worsen the deficit, and, will even result to an unnecessary arms race with other counties in the region,” he added
The former lawmaker pointed out that recent developments, including the US deployment of the Typhon Weapons System to northern Luzon, have already heightened tensions in the region.
“Bayan Muna vigorously denounces the US non-stop hawkish instigations in the South China Sea, which only serve to advance its hegemonic interests in the Asia-Pacific region. Dapat unahin ng administrasyong Marcos Jr. ang kaligtasan at soberanya ng mamamayang Pilipino, hindi ang interes ng mga dayuhang kapangyarihan,” Zarate said
Bayan Muna calls on the Marcos Jr. administration to counter China’s aggressiveness in the WPS through more active diplomatic initiatives, multilateral engagements in fora like the UN, rallying other claimant countries and push China for a mutually acceptable code of conduct, and, other non-hawkish, resource-depleting initiatives.#
