9/3/2023 0 Comments Us martial law news![]() ![]() It also reported China conducted “ dangerous maneuvers” in the same area this month. In February, the Philippines lodged a formal protest after accusing the Chinese coastguard of directing a powerful laser at one of its navy ships near Second Thomas Shoal, known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines. The visit to the White House is the first by Marcos Jr, who was elected in May 2022 and has since steered the Southeast Asian nation closer to the US in contrast to predecessor Rodrigo Duterte who tilted the country towards Beijing.Ĭhina is the Philippines’s top trading partner, and while Marcos Jr was honoured with a state visit to Beijing in January, its increasingly assertive claim to almost the entire South China Sea has become a source of increasing disquiet in Manila. The leaders, he said, were expected to announce new bilateral guidelines on the presence of the US military in the Philippines “as if we are a protectorate of America, in clear violation of our national sovereignty and constitution”. Reyes promised a demonstration in front of the US embassy in Manila and that Marcos Jr would also be greeted by protesting Filipinos in Washington, DC. ![]() The regular Labor Day rally had a new theme, Renato Reyes Jr, secretary general of the New Patriotic Alliance or Bayan, told prospective demonstrators - the US reaffirmation of the Philippines as its “military outpost” in Asia. reiterated the traditional Filipino politician’s abiding faith in America.Manila, Philippines – When they heard Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr was planning to meet United States President Joe Biden at the White House on May 1, Filipino progressive groups immediately made protest plans. Therefore, what better occasion was there to demonstrate that the Marcos name at least deserved a second look than for the son of the much-maligned dictator to project himself, in the presence of the world’s leaders, as the responsible representative of a worthy nation? Whatever resentment he might have harbored against America when, as exiles, they felt more like prisoners than guests, completely vanished as President Marcos Jr. was elected president in May this year, the rest of the world thought we Filipinos had completely lost our minds as a people. That our government would allow the former dictator to be buried in a cemetery meant for the nation’s heroes has cast a dark shadow on our sensibility as a nation. That none of the Marcoses ever had to spend even a day in jail has been a blot on our justice system. That name has been so overlain by images of unbridled corruption that it has become synonymous everywhere with grand larceny and shameless high-living. But it is also - and this is perhaps particularly true for the more stoically-inclined Bongbong Marcos - to reclaim for the Marcos name the image of the responsible statesman. Yes, it is to protect the family’s wealth and privileges. during his six-day visit to the US to express even a small hint of bitterness over those exile years, or to adopt the same anti-US rhetoric that his predecessor routinely spewed, probably misunderstand the whole purpose of the Marcos bid for political redemption. Then, from Clark, a huge US cargo plane flew them out of the country, landing first in Guam, and then in Honolulu, Hawaii, where they lived in exile. They were first ferried by choppers sent by the US Embassy to Clark Air Base in Pampanga, which was then still under American control. The US offered to fly the president and his family out of the presidential palace to where they could feel safe. Things happened very fast after that call. Here was Laxalt’s account of that call: “Then he (Marcos Sr.) asked me the gut question ‘Senator, what should I do?’ I wasn’t bound by diplomatic niceties. Instead, he asked his close friend, Nevada Sen. For reasons of his own, Reagan chose not to speak to him directly. It has been 36 years since the embattled and ailing autocrat, facing a peaceful civilian-military uprising in the nation’s capital, turned to his old friend, then President Ronald Reagan, for advice on whether something could be worked out with Cory Aquino. ![]()
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