WRONG NOTION

April 13, 2025 Opinion

The Philippine government should have a clear and unequivocal understanding of the United States and its aim of always asserting its dominance in the global stage be it militarily or economically and using to its advantage whatever treaties or agreements it had established
with its so called ‘friends’ and allies. So whatever assistance the US will give to its allies and ‘friends’ it must be accepted with the knowledge that it was given or sold for some agenda or purpose that will benefit primarily the US and its foreign policy abroad. This is exactly the motive behind the sales to the Philippines by the US of 20 F- 16 fighter jets valued at an estimated 5.6 billion dollars or 320 billion plus pesos.

A defense magazine in Australia came up with the wrong notion that the US government approved the sale of these fighter jets anchored on the premise of augmenting and enhancing the air defense capabilities of the Philippines, when fact the only intention of the US in supplying these modern jets is to serve as an additional deterrence against the real possibility of China invading Taiwan to reintegrate it into the mainland. The US has already declared several times in the past that it will come to the aid of Taiwan and defend it against Chinese aggression.

While the Philippine military, particularly its air force, stands to gain from the deal of finally having its own sophisticated and battle ready warplanes, they should understand that in hindsight these F-16s are an added deterrence that is being projected by the US for whatever future military action China has planned in the invasion of Taiwan. This is similar in intent when the US brought into the country and
deployed a mid-range capability (MRC) missile system known as the Typhon. This missile system can launch standard SM-6 missiles with a range of around 200 to 250 nautical miles.

The Typhon can even be fitted with the tomahawk cruise missiles which is a long-range, subsonic cruise missile capable of reaching distances of up to 1,500 miles. The tip of Luzon is approximately 250 kilometers from the southernmost tip of Taiwan. That is only about 155 miles which can be easily reached by missiles launched from the Typhon. One can just imagine the consternation of China when the US announced that it is deploying, and has in fact deployed, a typhon missile system in Luzon. This missile system is just past of the overall plan of the US to strategically position armaments and other military equipment, this as part of the provisions laid out in the
Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement the 9 EDCA sites that will allow US troops in said military bases under the agreement.

To recall the five original EDCA sites are the Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, the Basa Air base in Pampanga, the Benito Ebuen Air base in Cebu, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, and Lumbia Airport in Cagayan De Oro. Recently however, four new additional EDCA sites were announced and these are the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Cagayan, Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela, Balabac Island in Palawan and Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan. All of these EDCA bases will house US military personnel and their military hardware.
They will stand ready to respond against Chinese aggression in Taiwan.

The F-16 jets to be sold to the Philippines will simply be an additional asset that they can use to bolster their offensive strike if they defend Taiwan against China. It must be noted that five of the nine EDCA bases are military air bases or airports. So now that we know why the US is selling warplanes to the country it would only be proper for the Philippine government to extract other benefits and concessions from the US such as but not limited to the additional deployment of military hardware, which will be donated later on, such as other types of missiles systems, artilleries, warships, and tanks to better reinforce the defensive capabilities of the country in case China also decides to invade the Philippines.