Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Feb. 26 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) calls on the Filipino people to oppose so-called training programs being conducted by US special forces for local police forces after recent revelations point to the direct role played by the US military in the instigation, planning and conduct of the bloody Mamasapano operation last January 25.

The CPP issued this statement amid another round of training programs being conducted since yesterday by US Marines with the 6th Special Action Battalion of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

Last Monday, the former commander of the PNP-SAF revealed that the US military provided trainings to its troops mobilized for the Mamasapano operation. Reports have revealed that the US military conducted the trainings inside the La Vista del Mar resort in Zamboanga City, which has long been exposed as a front for US military facilities.

The US also provided intelligence information and equipment. Officers of the US military were also stationed at the PNP tactical command post providing the commander with live video feed from the surveillance drone being operated by the US military.

“Through these trainings, provision of equipment and intelligence information, the US military is able to strengthen its operational and doctrinal control of the local military and police forces,” said the CPP. “The US and its puppet officials claim that these trainings ‘enhance interoperability’ when in reality, they only reinforce the dependence of the local military and police on US financing and training.”

“The more influence and control the US military exercises over the Philippine police and military, the more Philippine sovereignty is degraded as this weakens the capacity of the puppet state to independently exercise its coercive power and wield political authority,” added the CPP.

More such trainings are set to be conducted by the US military in the coming months under the planned Balikatan exercises and other programs. “The US and Aquino governments are also using so-called ‘security preparations’ for the APEC conferences to justify interference by US military forces.”

“The closing ceremonies yesterday of the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) do not mark a slowdown in US military intervention but the heightening of clandestine operations,” said the CPP. The JSOTF-P held its closing ceremonies in its headquarters inside Camp Navarro, the AFP’s Western Mindanao Command base in Zamboanga City.

“Expect more units of the AFP and PNP to be subjected to the US military’s direct operational control as the AFP opens up more AFP camps to US military presence under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) which will provide the US with so-called Agreed Locations where they can set up their facilities for their operations and trainings,” added the CPP.

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