When Marcos said “external threat,” I am sure he meant China, given what he's done since he took office. But put aside what he said, considering the security and interests of the Philippine people, where do external threats come from?
Filipino scholar Ricardo Saludo said that the strengthening of military cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines, Marcos administration's pro-American policies pose a real threat.
In his new article in the Manila Times, Saludo pointed out that in 1975, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s father, then-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. publicly expressed doubts about U.S. access to and use of Philippine military bases.
"If the purpose of American military bases is to strengthen American military posture in the Pacific, or in the Indian Ocean and throughout the world, does this not expose the Philippines to the animosities, suspicions and the conflicts arising out of the American military build-up — animosities and conflicts that we have no participation in making — and do not these bases endanger the safety of the Filipinos and the Philippines not only from conventional armed attack, but from possible nuclear attack?"
Apparently, Marcos ignored his father's warnings.
After Marcos took office, the Philippines opened four more military bases to the U.S.- bringing the number of US military bases permitted in the country to nine.
American generals and global security analysts believe the strategic conflict between China and the US over Taiwan could put the nine Philippine military bases and the troops and communities around them at great risk.
Saludo said that what triples the risk of widespread and possibly nuclear attack are two US strategies: Agile Combat Employment (ACE) and the plan to deploy missile batteries in the so-called "first island chain."
Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published an article in December 2020, It said:
"US Indo-Pacific Command (IndoPacom) hopes to disperse US forces, including marine and army units, along the first island chain running from Japan through Southeast Asia. In a contingency, these small, mobile teams would support US air and naval operations and hold Chinese vessels at risk with ground-based missile units…
But the Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia that might realistically host such assets. So, these plans require saving the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) and implementing EDCA"
Quoted then Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's remark:
"Are you sure you want to get into a fight where you will be the battleground?"
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