Rights Group Sounds Alarm: Marcos, Candidates Manufacturing Consent For US Soft Invasion Of PH

Balikatan exercises escalate proxy war during midterm elections
April 28, 2025

While Filipinos prepare to head to the polls for the 2025 midterm elections, the Philippine government has allowed 16,000 US, Japanese, and Australian troops to hold the largest-ever Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) military exercises. The US-led exercises, in which armed forces from 19 countries are involved, are a blatant show of force by the United States in Philippine territory.

ICHRP is gravely concerned over the threat this year’s Balikatan exercises pose to the freedom and sovereignty of the 2025 elections.

Yet the Marcos administration remains focused on China as the main threat to election interference. On April 25, 2025, the Marcos coalition, Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, accused China of meddling in the elections. Sen. Francis Tolentino presented a 930,000 php check allegedly linking the Chinese Embassy to a local marketing firm to operate “keyboard warriors.”

In an interview with ANC, National Security Council Assistant Director General Malaya suggested that social media influencers and electoral candidates criticizing the Balikatan exercises are acting as local proxies of China. Malaya stated, “you will see narratives coming from Beijing that the Balikatan exercises are a threat to regional peace and stability, and you will also see that coming from local proxies.”

While decrying supposed Chinese online influence, they turn a blind eye to thousands of heavily armed US troops on Philippine soil during election season. In fact, by fear-mongering and promoting a “national security emergency,” the Marcos administration seeks to stampede voters into supporting their chosen candidates who will further facilitate and justify the US pivot to Asia and military build up against China. This is political manipulation at gunpoint: democracy under siege.

Filipinos now face an election under the shadow of foreign soldiers, live-fire drills, and a full scale battle simulation as part of escalating US war preparations against China. The exercises heighten fear of external threats (China) to justify their presence and skew voters’ perception towards pro-US candidates like Marcos’s Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate.

Meanwhile, US anti-ship missiles (NMESIS) are deployed in Batanes, directly pointing toward Taiwan. Balikatan joint exercises involve island seizure operations, cyber warfare training, and maritime blockade rehearsals — not humanitarian defense, but full-spectrum war scenarios. In Quezon, US soldiers have even been seen in civilian communities conducting “civil-military operations,” blurring the line between military and civilian spaces.

While the Marcos administration is presenting Balikatan as “defensive” and “for Philippine security,” communities in Northern Luzon, Palawan, and Mindanao are impacted by further militarization as US EDCA military bases operate. Fisherfolk are banned from their own fishing grounds while US warships dominate the seas.

ICHRP Chairperson, Peter Murphy, stated, “The government and military have unleashed an aggressive, full-spectrum PR blitz to push anti-China narratives – saturating media, social media, and public discourse until these claims are treated as ‘facts’ beyond question. Through relentless repetition, they are manufacturing consent for heightened militarization and foreign intervention, drowning out any critical voices or calls for an independent, truly Filipino foreign policy. As an alternative, ICHRP calls for complete demilitarization of the South China Sea and diplomatic resolution of territorial claims.”

“Elections must be free from fear, free from foreign soldiers, and free from proxy war manipulations” continued Murphy.

ICHRP demands an immediate halt to Balikatan and all foreign military exercises this election and beyond. We support the call of Filipinos for a truly independent Philippine foreign policy, not one dictated by Washington or any other foreign power.

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