đź“·P1NAS spokesperson Antonio Tinio
P1NAS strongly condemns the signing of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) between the Philippines and the United States, viewing it as yet another one-sided arrangement that further entrenches US military dominance and compromises Philippine sovereignty.
Secretary of Defense Gilbert Teodoro and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin signed the agreement at a ceremony Quezon City today. According to their joint statement, it lays the foundation “for enhanced, expanded, and timely sharing of information and defense technology.”
“This agreement is primarily driven by US hegemonic interests in the Asia-Pacific region, not by genuine concern for what the Filipino people want,” declared P1NAS spokesperson Antonio Tinio. “It’s important to understand that intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, whether in the Philippines or the whole region, are overwhelmingly controlled by the US military, while the Philippines has very limited capacity to monitor its own maritime domain.”
Tinio, a former ACT Teachers representative in Congress, emphasized that this severe imbalance in ISR capabilities means that the Philippines will become even more dependent on US-supplied intelligence. “This arrangement effectively allows the US to drive the agenda in the West Philippine Sea, the Luzon strait closest to Taiwan, and other areas based on whatever information it selectively chooses to share with us. We will be seeing the situation through American eyes, guided by American interests.”
The P1NAS spokesperson also warned that GSOMIA is designed to facilitate the deployment of advanced US weapons systems and military technology on Philippine soil, such as the Typhon missile launcher system currently deployed at the Laoag International Airport. This enables the US to hit targets in mainland China. “The agreement requires the Philippine government to provide legal guarantees protecting US military secrets. This means we’re not just hosting their forces – we’re now legally bound to protect their military technology secrets while having no control over how these systems might be used from our territory.”
“This is a dangerous development that further transforms our country into a forward operating base for US military operations,” Tinio stated. “The Marcos Jr. administration is deepening our military dependence on the United States.”
P1NAS calls on Congress to scrutinize this agreement and its implications for Philippine sovereignty. The movement also urges the Filipino people to resist the continuing transformation of the Philippines into a staging ground for US military operations in the region.
“The Filipino people deserve an independent foreign policy that truly serves national interests, not one that makes us more subservient to US military objectives in the region,” Tinio concluded. ###
