THIS JUNE 16 and 17, the coastal towns of Miag-ao and San Joaquin, Iloilo, alongside neighboring communities stretching into Anini-y and Hamtic, Antique, are staging grounds for the first-ever Inter-agency Territorial Defense Operations Exercise. Orchestrated by the Philippine Army and the Iloilo provincial government, the drills are publicly framed as a vital test of disaster response and rescue capabilities.
Organizers plan to deploy air, water, and land assets to simulate extreme, high-stress scenarios, including civilian spillover management and responses to simulated missile attacks.
However, behind the official rhetoric of safety and preparedness lies a deeply troubling reality: local residents will soon see military deployments and hear the echoes of simulated explosions. Instead of addressing the severe economic crises gripping rural communities, intensive military exercises bring disruption rather than relief. Local families are currently wrestling with rampant poverty, job insecurity, and a severe lack of basic economic safety nets during ongoing crises. Launching massive war games does absolutely nothing to alleviate these daily hardships.
The lived experiences of communities in other regions show that such exercises actively undermine local peace. Even our very own fisherfolk whose livelihoods depend on the West Philippine Sea had been barred from going out during war games with US and other foreign troops, effectively cutting off the primary source of income of fishing communities. Furthermore, terrifying simulated bombings and gunfire create an atmosphere of panic and trauma among ordinary civilians who deserve tranquility rather than simulated warfare.
For Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Panay and all freedom-loving Panayanons, such war simulations prepare the country for a devastating war designed and instigated by our neocolonial oppressor, the United States, in its bid to contain the rise of China. The US takes advantage of Philippine assertion of rights in the West Philippine Sea so that it can deepen its foothold on our territory, control our maritime routes, and exploit our rich natural wealth. By holding war simulations, the island of Panay and the Philippines in general risk being drawn into an imperialist conflict where ordinary citizens become the collateral damage. We can become a target of attacks from enemies of the US precisely because the Philippine government opened our territory as host for US bases and as part of the US assembly line to produce and store war equipment like missiles, aircraft, etc.
Ultimately, these war exercises condition the public to believe that the only way to defend our economic rights in the West Philippine Sea is to participate in a US-led war against China. This is a perilous and false choice. While the Filipino people must firmly oppose Chinese aggression, the answer is not military escalation. We must steadfastly demand that China adhere to international frameworks like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) along with the 2016 arbitral ruling that upholds Philippine rights to the West Philippine Sea.
BAYAN Panay asserts that escalating tension through destructive war games will not benefit the Filipino people. We must stand firm in prioritizing diplomatic integrity and the immediate economic survival of our communities over foreign geopolitical agendas. True defense of national sovereignty requires a standpoint that rejects unequal foreign military policies with the US, demands the removal of all foreign troops from our lands and seas, and pushes for the dismantling of EDCA sites that serve as modern US military bases within our borders. – ELMER FORRO, secretary-general, Bagong Alyasang Makabayan – Panay <bayanpanay2014@gmail.com>
