House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Representative Antonio Tinio today denounced the country’s Independence Day celebration as a meaningless ritual, asserting that genuine sovereignty remains out of reach as long as the United States hold immense influence in Philippine foreign and military policy.
Speaking on the 128th anniversary of Philippine independence, Tinio stressed that commemorating June 12 rings false while the Marcos administration surrenders national interests to the US.
“What independence are we celebrating when Washington dictates our military posture through Balikatan exercises and base agreements,” Tinio said. “The Philippines is caught between two superpowers, the US and China neither of which has Filipino interests at heart. This is not independence—this is a neo- colonialism.”
Tinio pointed to concrete examples of foreign domination: the expanded US military presence through rotating troop deployments, the planned Davao oil depot serving American warships, the Pax Silica initiative binding Philippine tech infrastructure to US supply chains.
Tinio also noted China’s effective control over Philippine fishing grounds and resource extraction in the West Philippine Sea specifically in Bajo de Masinloc.
“Nakikita natin ang pattern: ang bawat desisyon ng gobyerno Marcos man ngayon o Duterte noon ay sumusunod sa interes ng Washington o Beijing, hindi sa interes ng Pilipino,” Tinio said. “Ang tunay na kalayaan ay nangangahulugan ng kapangyarihang magdesisyon para sa ating sarili—sa ating teritoryo, sa ating ekonomiya, sa ating kinabukasan.”
“Hindi natin epektibong maitatguyod ang ating soberanong karapatan sa WPS kontra sa panghihimasok ng China habang sunod-sunuran ang Marcos Jr admin sa US,” he added.
Tinio emphasized that authentic independence requires breaking free from both US military entanglement and Chinese economic coercion, while prioritizing the needs of ordinary Filipinos over foreign strategic interests.
“Real independence means food security, affordable energy, and genuine development—not war games on our soil or foreign powers extracting our resources,” Tinio said. “It means a government that answers to its own people, not to Washington or any other country.”
“Hanggang sa makamit natin ang tunay na pagkakaisa at self-determination, ang ating pagdiriwang ng Araw ng Kalayaan ay magiging pangako lamang na hindi natutupad,” Tinio concluded.” #
