Five Reasons Why the Philippines is Not Truly Independent
In Economy
The Philippine economy remains shackled to the whim of foreign monopoly capital, evident in its dependence on imports from the US and other countries and oriented to export its resources & labor to other nations.
The Mining Act of 1995 continues to this day, allowing for 100% foreign ownership of mining projects – resulting in destruction of natural resources, pillaging of peasant and Indigenous lands and communities, and pollution of the environment for the benefit of a small handful of foreign corporations which make Php51.6 billion in profits, while mining communities remain among the poorest in the country.
In Agriculture
The agriculture industry is also export-oriented and import-dependent. In Mindanao, agricultural plantations cover more than 500,000 hectares and their crops are grown primarily for export. Meanwhile, free trade agreements and the rice tariffication laws promote import dependence, destroying the livelihoods of farmers. For rice farmers, their income per hectare has dropped by 40.3% as the market gets flooded with imported rice.
Throughout all farming, foreign produced GMOs and synthetic fertilizers wreak havoc on the land itself. Systematically promoted by the Philippine govt, the use has led to low soil fertility in most farmlands.
In Military
Throughout its history, the Philippines has been the top recipient of US military and security aid in Southeast Asia, yet there has been no genuine support to help the Philippines become self reliant or to protect the Filipino people.. Instead the US sells old equipment to the Philippines and expands its physical military presence in the archipelago as it postures towards China. Most recently the US expanded to a total of 9 US military bases in the Philippines through the Visiting Forces Agreement and EDCA.
The US supplies arms to the Armed Forces of the Philippines which has been used to attack peasants, workers, and human rights defenders.
Despite the Philippines no longer allowing permanent US military bases in the Philippines, through the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the US is still able to maintain its military control over the Philippines, recently expanding to nine total “visiting” bases, a signal of its posture towards Asia and China.
In Culture
In the 1900s, the US expanded the public education system in the Philippines, modeling it after its own system. As colonizers of the archipelago, the education system was devoid of any critique of the US nor did it inform students of the brutal takeover.
The Philippine education system mainly produces cheap, semi skilled labor for the global market. Students learn skills and fill jobs that serve foreign corporations, such as call centers or contractual work at special processing zones. Students are also pushed to seek jobs abroad through the labor export policy.
In Politics
Former leaders of the Philippines have a history of pushing for policy and changes to the constitution that benefit foreign corporations primarily.
In March 2022, former president Rodrigo Duterte signed the law amending the 1936 Public Service Act which allows for 100% foreign ownership in industries like telecoms, airlines, shipping, toll roads, transport network vehicles, and railways.
To this day, there is a fight to enact charter change under the Marcos Jr Regime which would drop the constitutional provisions which state that Filipinos should own at least 60% of certain industries.
Proponents of charter change say that the increase in direct foreign investments will be a boost to the Philippine economy. But increased direct foreign investments so far have resulted in low job growth and expanded trade deficits which hurt workers and peasants the most.
The Philippines commemorates every June 12th as the declaration of “independence” from Spain in 1898. This was set in stone because of the Filipino people’s growing revolution against its Spanish colonizers in 1896.
The Philippine Revolution was led by the Katipunan and its leaders like Andres Bonifacio, whom Anakbayan takes as an example of organized strength, the inevitable resistance of the Filipino people against our oppressors, and the necessity of revolution.
However, alongside the Philippines in its fight for sovereignty from Spain was the United States in its plan to take the Philippines for itself. Spain began to see our homeland as less profitable as a colony, and it turned to the U.S. In the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain “sold” the Philippine archipelago to the United States for 20 million dollars, along with the islands of Puerto Rico, Guam, and relinquished its claim to Cuba.
Anakbayan USA denies the so-called "independence" being celebrated today and asserts the semi-feudal, semi-colonial character of the Philippines, especially under U.S. imperialism and the growing Chinese imperialism. Though the Philippines is not yet truly independent, we uplift the Filipino people’s calls for national sovereignty free from foreign intervention and control.
As youth and students in the National Democratic movement, we understand that genuine liberation can only be achieved through smashing imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism!
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