A women’s rights organization marked Independence Day with a renewed call for genuine national sovereignty, denouncing continued foreign military presence and economic dependence in the Philippines.
In a statement released June 12, the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) said it “stands in solidarity with Filipino women and the broader masses in asserting genuine independence and national sovereignty – freedom from continued foreign domination that persists through militarism and imperialist control of our economy.”
The group said the Philippines has long served as a strategic outpost for the United States, citing military agreements such as the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
It noted that joint military exercises like Balikatan are held annually, and at least nine EDCA sites have been established across the country, “many of them near vital resources or contested waters.”
The statement said the military agreements allow U.S. training and support for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which it described as a form of community militarization.
It added that such militarization has harmed women and children, citing a history of foreign troop presence contributing to prostitution and gender-based violence.
CWR also raised concern over the government’s signing of a Reciprocal Access Agreement with Japan and ongoing efforts to forge similar deals with France, Canada, and New Zealand.
These developments, it said, come “amid intensifying geopolitical tensions between the US and China,” warning that “the Philippines is being dragged into a proxy war.”
“President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. bears responsibility for enabling this heightened militarization, which significantly increases the vulnerability of Filipinos—especially women and children—to violence,” the group said.
The statement linked militarism to foreign economic dominance, saying military presence helps protect the interests of foreign investors in natural resources, economic zones, and infrastructure projects often framed as “development” and “security.”
It pointed to areas like Santa Ana in Cagayan and other EDCA sites where women, particularly from Indigenous communities, experience the impacts of displacement, surveillance, and militarized violence.
CWR called on women and the public to “fight for genuine independence and sovereignty – our collective aspirations that cannot coexist with foreign military presence, economic dependence, and bureaucrat capitalism that serves imperialist interests.”
