Philippines is
confronted with various issues due to its martyrdom over United States of
America. Among those issues circulating, the signing of the Enhanced Defense
Agreement caught my attention and it is not because of its constitutionality
issues, which I will leave to the court to decide on the matter, but because I
believe that the signing of another agreement with the US Military forces is
tantamount to accepting enslavement, thus, leading to indirect consent to manipulation.
Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)
is an agreement between the Philippines and the United States which is
envisioned to advance the implementation of the Philippine-U.S. Mutual Defense
Treaty (MDT). It was signed by Philippine Defense Secretary, Voltaire Gazmin, and
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, Philip Goldberg in Manila, April 28,2014.
Is not it ironic that in 1991, 12 Philippine senators namely, Joseph
Estrada,Teofisto Guingona, Juan Enrile, Wigberto Tañada, Ernesto Maceda,
Agapito Aquino, Orlando Mercado, Victor Ziga, Rene Saguisag ,Sotero Laurel,
JovitoSalonga and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. ousted the US troops by rejecting the Treaty
of Friendship, Cooperation and Security that would have retained US military
presence in the country because they aspired independence for the Philippines.
Yet fate must be kidding us, because 20 years later, we are confronted again
with the same problem.
People randomly utter
that we are an independent sovereign country without deciphering what independence
means. As defined by Merriam Webster dictionary independence is freedom from
outside control or support. Applying then the simple definition in our chaotic
situation we are left with one question, is the Philippines really an
independent country? It has been decades since we gained our independence from the
United States of America, yet, why does it appear to me otherwise? Is it
because I am only looking at our situation too close which possibly barred me
from looking at the bigger picture, or is it a reality that the Philippines is
like an infant who cannot survive without milk?
I am not saying that we
should completely remove our ties with the US because we need them and the
other countries to survive. What I am against is overdependence. By signing EDCA,
despite the hot issues on VFA and EDCA’s constitutionality, it shows that we
are not yet free from US control. We are
still willing to be manipulated, to be taken advantage of, and to be underdog
of US. It is so sad that our fore fathers fought with vigor notwithstanding the
possibility of prosecution just to attain independence for the future
generation and yet now it is so painstaking that we are not giving justice to
our them who offered their lives for the independence which we are now taking
for granted. I believe that it is not yet too late for the Philippines to turn
the table because our country had been tested since time immemorial. Quoting Emilio Aguinaldo he said that we
cannot free ourselves unless we move forward united in a single desire. Thus,
if the duly constituted authorities are blinded from the rampant exploitation going
on then as Filipino citizens we should act as one to defend staunchly our
countries independence and by agreeing to EDCA we allow the evil sought to be
avoided by our forefathers to consume us.
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