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Quezon City – On a freeway within the Ilocos Norte province earlier this month, Father Arvin Mangrubang of the Philippine Independent Church slowly drove reverse a dozen or so hulking armoured autos and vehicles carrying United States troopers.
He felt a pit type in his throat.
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“It’s become so normalised around here, the military, the threat of war,” Mangrubang advised Al Jazeera.
This coastal province on the nation’s northwestern tip faces the South China Sea and is simply 345km (214 miles) south of Taiwan.
Due to its strategic location, the province recurrently hosts high-profile shows of navy may as a part of US-Philippines warfare video games, together with the just lately concluded annual Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) joint workouts.
Father Mangrubang says US troopers might be noticed all yr spherical within the space, however through the summer time months of April and May, their navy operations kick into excessive gear.
What seems like an occasional reminder of potential battle is then reworked by the Balikatan workouts right into a palpable invitation that confrontation might be simply across the nook.
“The constant display of tanks, drones and loud gunfire sends everyone into a fright, especially those who live so close to the operations,” Mangrubang advised Al Jazeera.
This yr’s three-week-long Balikatan workouts have been the most important up to now, with greater than 17,000 troopers participating from six international locations alongside the Philippines.
The US navy made up the lion’s share of the overseas contingent, with some 10,000 troopers in attendance, whereas a number of thousand troopers hailed from Canada, Japan, Australia, France and New Zealand.
Analysts consider the warfare video games, which occur throughout the archipelago, quantity to a provocation of Washington’s rival in East Asia – China – at a time when the US navy is waging warfare in opposition to Iran.
Locally, Philippine fishing and farming communities have additionally suffered livelihood disruption brought on by the drills.
Raymond Palatino, secretary-general of Bayan, a nationwide coalition of activist teams first shaped in 1985 to confront the US-backed hardline rule of President Ferdinand Marcos, mentioned the Philippines ought to distance itself from US navy planning, beginning with ending joint workouts.
“It is paving the way for the US war machine to boost its horrific range from West Asia to the West Philippine Sea,” Palatino advised Al Jazeera.
Bayan supporters held protests on the headquarters of the Philippine navy and the US Embassy in Manila, coinciding with the beginning of the Balikatan workouts.
The activists mentioned the US navy presence heightened the possibilities of the Philippines turning into a goal for Washington’s enemies and risked dragging Filipinos into the battle, simply as Gulf international locations had been drawn into the warfare on Iran.
“The exercises clearly demonstrated the specific military role that the US wants the Philippines to play in its inter-imperialist rivalry with China: That of a forward base and launchpad for military attacks,” Bayan mentioned in an announcement.
“The presence of US troops and weapons in the country does not guarantee our safety or security. On the contrary, it increases the likelihood of avoidable deaths and destruction, including possible attacks from US adversaries,” it mentioned.
“This is evident in the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran, where American military bases and facilities in Gulf countries have become legitimate targets in the conflict,” it added.
Philippine Major-General Francisco Lorenzo Jr, native director of the Balikatan workouts, mentioned the US’s warfare on Iran had no relevance for the warfare video games within the Philippines, whereas his US navy counterpart mentioned the manoeuvres didn’t current a problem to anybody, significantly China, the US’s predominant navy rival.
Marco Valbuena, spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which leads a insurgent military within the Philippine countryside, known as claims in regards to the defensive, “deterrence” character of Balikatan “pure hogwash”.
“The Balikatan exercises will further tighten the US military stranglehold of the Philippines, and make it serve as a springboard for military aggression in Asia and elsewhere,” Valbuena mentioned.
“This ‘deterrence policy’ did not stop the US from carrying out the bombing of Iran on false pretexts,” he advised Al Jazeera.
Valbuena additionally mentioned home anti-rebellion operations are a giant a part of the US agenda, with the rebels accusing American officers of “manning technical equipment in AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] tactical command posts during combat operations against the NPA [New People’s Army]”, the armed wing of the CPP.
The Philippines is the most important recipient of US navy help within the Asia Pacific area.
Between 2015 and 2022, Washington despatched greater than $1.14bn value of navy gear, together with planes, ships, armoured autos, small arms and coaching programmes to the Philippines, in addition to greater than 850 ship visits to Philippine ports and at the very least 1,300 navy engagements with native forces.
In December 2025, the US Congress permitted a proposal to allot $2.5bn in safety help to the Philippines till 2030.
International research professor Renato De Castro on the De La Salle University in Manila advised Al Jazeera that this yr’s Balikatan had a twin message: The US “showing the world and China that it is capable of mobilising and deploying forces in two different theatres” concurrently, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Professor Roland Simbulan, an professional on US-Philippine relations from the University of the Philippines, mentioned the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz additionally despatched a message to China, Iran’s predominant buying and selling accomplice.
The Philippines, Simbulan added, is now important to Washington as US navy services within the Philippines are key for its “refuelling, repair, communications and intelligence” – what he described as “eyes, ears and brains” within the Southeast Asia area.
The 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the Philippines permits the US to refuel and bunker its naval vessels at native ports. The US already has a serious refuelling station in its former naval base in Subic Bay, whereas in July 2025, it was reported that the US navy was eyeing the southern Philippine islands for an additional refuelling station.
Plans have additionally been introduced for the development of a US ammunition manufacturing unit within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
According to De Castro of De La Salle University, the Balikatan workouts have shifted emphasis within the final two years from inside safety to exterior defence.
This, in line with De Castro, means the workouts are centered on “oiling the machinery” of warfare and “really rehearsing it with allies, with the United States, with Japan, so forth”.
The US has since 2024 deployed its Typhon missile system in Ilocos Norte province, which is able to launching Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles.
On May 6, US and Philippine forces, for the primary time, launched a Tomahawk missile as a part of the Balikatan drills. The missile flew 600km (373 miles) from Tacloban metropolis to Nueva Ecija.
The Makabayan Coalition, a gaggle of opposition lawmakers, criticised the missile launch, saying these have been the identical US weapons tearing Iran aside.
“The Philippines is not a playground for US missiles and bombs that will be used to kill civilians in other parts of the world,” the lawmakers mentioned.
Among the demonstrations showcased to the general public through the workouts have been air defence manoeuvres in Zambales province and reside fireplace workouts in Palawan and Ilocos Norte, which culminated within the sinking of a decommissioned World War II-era vessel off Ilocos Norte’s coast on May 8.
Such actions haven’t been obtained properly by native communities, who depend on fishing and farming in areas the place the warfare video games happen.
The Philippine navy declared a “no sail zone” for as much as 11 days alongside sure coastal areas to make method for the Balikatan.
“Filipino fishers do not deserve to be restricted from their livelihood, especially as we are grappling with the oil price shock that stemmed from the aggression of the US and Israel in the Middle East,” mentioned Ronnel Arambulo of the Pamalakaya organisation, a nationwide federation of small fisherfolk.
According to the group’s estimates, alongside Subic Bay in Zambales province, the workouts impression the livelihood of about 4,800 fisherfolk.
In a 2023 report, the Philippine Statistics Authority discovered that fisherfolk had the best poverty incidence within the nation.
Hilda Reyes, a member of the Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council in San Antonio, Zambales, mentioned regardless of the navy permitting just a few hours a day for fishermen to take their boats out, many have been afraid of getting caught in potential crossfire.
“During the exercises, there’s no telling what could happen out at sea. I wouldn’t risk it myself,” Reyes advised Al Jazeera.
Reyes added that in addition to fisherfolk, many within the native casual financial system reside hand to mouth and struggling to get by.
Colonel Dennis Hernandez, Balikatan spokesperson for the Philippines, advised Al Jazeera that the navy was attempting to minimise the disruption to the native financial system.
“Temporary safety zones may be established in specific areas during live-fire or maritime activities strictly for public safety,” Hernandez mentioned.
But amid the Balikatan drills and rising relations with the US and different overseas militaries, China and the Philippines continued to commerce barbs over territorial claims within the South China Sea.
Manila scored a diplomatic and authorized win in 2016 by attaining a beneficial ruling on the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea.
Nevertheless, Beijing maintains it has sovereign rights over about 90 p.c of the disputed waters within the sea and recurrently clashes with Manila over their overlapping claims.
On April 24, only a few days into Balikatan, China’s Southern Theatre Command carried out live-fire drills within the South China Sea east of the Philippines’ Luzon island group.
The Chinese navy mentioned the drills have been to “safeguard national sovereignty”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun additionally had a direct warning relating to Balikatan.
“The last thing the region needs is division and confrontation as a result of the introduction of external forces,” Guo mentioned.
“For countries that tie their own security to others, it is important to bear in mind that this may very well backfire.”
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