Independence
for Whom?

July 4, 2021

Fourth of July marks the anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, as well as the lesser known anniversary of when the United States allegedly granted “independence” to its Philippine colony in 1946. This Fourth, Liyang Network draws attention to the ongoing relationship which favors foreign economic policy between the U.S government, the Philippines, and peoples throughout the world fighting for genuine liberation.

In the late 1800s, the U.S. violently incorporated the Philippines (along with Puerto Rico, Guam and Cuba) into its empire, and formally claimed it as a colony for almost 50 years. 

On July 4th, 1946, to quell growing internal opposition from within the Philippines as well as international pressure, the US granted independence to the Philippines in name only, orchestrating the colony's first presidency. Rather than being elected by the Filipino people, Manuel Roxas was chosen by the US military government due to his promises of protecting American interests in the archipelago, particularly of maintaining the US military bases. 

Roxas, influenced by U.S. dominance, immediately signed unequal treaties that favored the interests of U.S. corporations, in exchange for war damage payments that the Philippines sorely needed to be able to rebuild after the devastation wrought by World War II and Japanese occupation.

Roxas was just the first in a long line of presidents who have been subservient to U.S. interests, a line which continues to this day.

The most significant of the unequal treaties was the US-RP Agreement on General Relations signed on the first day of Philippine’s independence. It set the tone for the exploitative relationship between the US and the Philippines, declaring the Philippines an open source for raw materials and a new market for US corporations. 

The law also made the property rights of U.S. corporations of equal weight to the rights of Filipino corporations and even citizens. 

Today, we see the evolution of these exploitative economic policies in the proposed Charter Change, also known as “Cha-Cha” for short, which would allow 100% foreign ownership of public utilities, natural resources, mass media companies, and educational institutions--gearing these industries further away from serving the Filipino people, and even more towards serving foreign capital. 

The US-RP Agreement on General Relations of 1946 also allowed the U.S. military to rule the country through its 20 bases and the right to build more bases for the next 99 years. The Military Assistance Pact gave the U.S. control over the Philippine military through the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group, a body of U.S. officials who would advise and readily supply weapons to the Philippine military. 

Today, the Visiting Forces Agreement of 1999, has continued to allow the U.S. military to utilize Philippine bases and conduct joint military exercises. The U.S. also maintains its control through the millions of dollars in military aid, in the form of funds, arms and equipment. The Philippines is currently the largest recipient of US military aid in East and Southeast Asia. 

Thanks to this military control, the U.S. is able to maintain its dominance over the Philippine economy and people, and strengthen counterinsurgency and repression capabilities to quell people’s movements fighting for better conditions.  The U.S. is also anxious to maintain its control of the Philippines, so that the archipelago can further serve as a strategic launching point for U.S. expansion in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole. 

In light of this colonial history, on the Fourth of July we must ask: independence and freedom for whom? The history of the United States, as well as its ongoing actions, are stained by exploitative and militarized violence, usurping countless peoples of their rights to sovereignty and self-determination.

From the land theft and genocide of Native peoples to the kidnapping and enslavement of African peoples, to the establishment of colonies outside the U.S. that still exist to this day, it is impossible to separate global struggles for independence because they all share the same oppression under the United States. 

July 4th was once declared Philippine-American Friendship Day in the Philippines by the infamous dictator Ferdinand Marcos during the same period in which he declared Martial Law. However, this "friendship" is not between the peoples of the Philippines and the peoples of the United States, but rather a business transaction between the governing elite of the Philippines and US interests seeking to exploit the country's resources and people.

However, a genuine friendship and solidarity in struggle has been building between the people of the Philippines and the people of the US: those living at the center of the dominating country and those suffering from the economic and social oppression abroad, working together to achieve genuine liberation. The possibilities for solidarity between the people living within the US and the Philippines, as well as all nations impacted by US violence, exist and continue to grow.

This July 4th, Liyang Network invites our supporters to educate themselves and their communities about the true history and nature of the United States' relationship with the Philippines, as well as with all countries that have been objects of its neo-colonial agenda. We also encourage everyone to join organizations like Liyang Network who are working to support the survival and organizing of communities most impacted.

We encourage our followers to speak out against  U.S. military aid to the Philippines and support the passing of the Philippine Human Rights Act, which seeks to end U.S. funding and military aid to the Marcos-Duterte administration. 

We urge our supporters to recognize and act in solidarity with the struggles of Black and Indigenous communities in the United States, who have been targets of the country's colonial violence throughout its history. 

And most of all, we call on our followers to continue to support the struggles of communities in the Philippines and anywhere else on the frontlines of U.S. violence. We want to emphasize the importance of providing material and consistent support, and developing long-term relationships with other organizations that support communities on the frontlines around the world.