How Charter change advances America’s agenda

THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has rightly included the administration’s Charter change (Cha-cha) push in its twice-yearly plenary conference this week.

Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Taytay, Palawan, recently decried Cha-cha schemes, including the gathering of millions of signatures, allegedly with monetary inducements, in a people’s initiative for constitutional revision.

Besides self-serving amendments, however, what’s also worrisome today is the Cha-cha agenda of the United States pushed by pro-US politicians and the press. They have already been driving their wish list in key sectors since Washington pressed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in February 2023 to open nine facilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to America’s military.

One clear sign of its agenda is the near-total silence of our leaders and media about war dangers from hosting US forces under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA): two each in Cagayan and Palawan provinces, and one each in Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga and near

Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro.

US generals, media and think tanks all warn of attacks on bases used by its forces. In Taiwan war games of the Center for New American Security, US warplanes attack from our bases (7 minutes into the video at https://www.cnas.org/publications/video/cnas-on-meet-the-press), and China retaliates against us (10 minutes).

The President’s own father warned in 1975, quoted in the Philippine Council of Foreign Relations journal (third article at http://pcfr.weebly.com/pcfr-journal.html):

“If the purpose of American military bases is to strengthen American military posture in the Pacific, or in the Indian Ocean and throughout the world, does this not expose the Philippines to the animosities, suspicions and the conflicts arising out of the American military build-up — animosities and conflicts that we have no participation in making — and do not these bases endanger the safety of the Filipinos and the Philippines not only from conventional armed attack, but from possible nuclear attack?”

Indeed, then-Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told London’s Financial Times in 2019: “Should there be a shooting war and nuclear weapons would be used, I think the Philippines would be a fair target for anybody who’s against the United States” (https://www.ft.com/content/a352ba2e-3358-11e9-bd3a-8b2a211d90d5)

Hiding the bases truth

Despite such warnings, our leaders, officials and newsmen are almost totally silent about the bases’ perils. Retired AFP chief and then Department of National Defense officer in charge Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., who knows better, even claimed that “these EDCA sites should not be a cause for concern” with nil retort from most media and even anti-US leftists.

For decades, leftists always denounced American forces. But today, communist rebels reeling from counterinsurgency gains have clammed up on EDCA, along with leftist allies. Probable reason: resumed peace talks needed to stanch insurgent setbacks — and announced by Marcos last November, heeding current peace process adviser Galvez. This is despite AFP fears of communists again mounting attacks and amassing arms and funds during a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, sea incidents with China, likely to ratchet up with US-Philippines naval patrols, help justify America’s access to bases despite war risks, plus EDCA renewal before its April expiry.

Now, if our leaders conceal grave dangers from hosting US forces, will their Cha-cha initiative also serve America’s agenda to our people’s detriment?

St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest medieval theologian commemorated on January 28, defined legislation as “an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.” Does that tenet describe Cha-cha and its proponents?

Besides leadership and media silence on EDCA perils, other signs of US clout include moves against Vice

President Sara Duterte, whom Washington does not want as president; the build-up of House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez as her 2028 rival; the International Criminal Court investigating not only ex-president Rodrigo Duterte but also VP Sara; and Marcos’ reclamation ban amid US Embassy concerns, probably including Chinese dredgers in Manila Bay.

Plus: YouTube’s ban and government suspension of Apollo Quiboloy’s SMNI channel, after airing in March 2023 the elder Duterte’s EDCA warning about “missiles raining on us” and even the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) controversy. Washington frets over electricity for military facilities, with State Grid Corp. of China owning 40 percent of NGCP and providing operational and infrastructure support.

Cha-cha for Uncle Sam

What amendments might Uncle Sam want? Legislators repeatedly insist only economic revisions are planned. But really, once Cha-cha starts, anything goes.

On economic provisions, lifting foreign ownership limits has commercial, strategic and political advantages. Allowing overseas stakes in Philippine media cannot but enhance US influence. Opening lands to non-Filipino ownership would grant alien control over areas, even for military purposes.

And allowing foreign majority stakes in resource ventures serves Washington’s global initiative to secure supplies of strategic materials, for which there already is a P280million US-Philippines program to boost critical minerals processing.

Turning to political amendments, parliamentary and federal systems clip the powers of nationally elected leaders — addressing US fears of another popular, independent-minded president opposing its agenda. Rather, as its present clout shows, Washington wields huge influence among local politicians.

On military issues, removing constitutional restrictions on foreign forces and nuclear weapons facilitates US military deployment. Notably, America ended security ties with New Zealand after the latter’s 1984 law barring nuclear-armed vessels and aircraft from entry.

Finally, some provisions may interest American liberals, including powerful segments of the ruling Democratic Party and the US government. They have long advocated scrapping abortion and contraception curbs, adopting non-traditional gender lifestyles even for children, and eradicating Christian elements from public life, like crucifixes in schools and hospitals and monuments to religious figures.

Similarly, United Nations Human Rights Council officials visiting Manila in November 2022 urged legalizing abortion as a human right. Such liberals may target our charter provision protecting life upon conception — for starters.

In sum, our political establishment driving America’s agenda in security and politics may do the same in Cha-cha.

As in the first Marcos regime, the Catholic Church stands as the sole institution able to resist initiatives in the second Marcos administration perilous to our people, from weaponizing our country to undermining our Christian values.