Missile system deployed in Laoag ‘alarming’

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THE deployment of a United States missile system at the Laoag International Airport, a civilian area in Ilocos Norte, has alarmed citizens, scholars and leaders, a political analyst said.

In a media forum organized by Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), geopolitical and economic risk consultant Prof. Mario Ferdinand Ayano Pasion highlighted the constitutional, geopolitical and societal repercussions of the deployment of the Typhon missile system, which has a range of up to 2,500 kilometers.

“This means critical regions such as the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and parts of Southern China are within its reach,” Pasion said.

He said the Philippines lacks the technical capacity to operate the system, leaving its control exclusively in the hands of American personnel.

The missile system’s placement at a civilian airport has also drawn criticism from Sen. Imee Marcos, who questioned its legality and prudence.

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Pasion said missile deployment may be a violation of the Philippine Constitution, which renounces the presence of nuclear weapons in the country.

He said the move also risks undermining the Philippines’ standing in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Pasion, who is also a supervising legislative staff officer at the House of Representatives, said the missile deployment contravenes the treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone and the Zone of Peace, Freedom, and Neutrality (Zopfan).

Such actions, he argued, could escalate tensions in the region, making the Philippines a target in a geopolitical conflict involving China, Taiwan and the US.

“These missiles will only bring diplomatic strains and the heightened threat of the Philippines becoming a target in big geopolitical disputes,” Pasion warned.

Adding to these concerns is the prospect of unintended escalation. President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who allowed the deployment in his home province, already acknowledged the risk of miscalculation.

Pasion also drew attention to the broader implications of US military spending. He criticized the siphoning of American taxpayers’ money into the military-industrial complex, arguing that such resources could be better utilized addressing domestic challenges in the US.

He connected this critique to the Philippines’ situation, asserting that the country risks becoming “a mere colony once again of the US, with no control over its existential concerns.”

Pasion called on the government, as well as the media, to debate the merits and dangers of this deployment.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro rejected Chinese criticism of Manila’s plans to acquire the Typhon missile system, telling Beijing to stop its “saber-rattling” and “interference” in internal affairs.

China’s navy and coast guard have engaged in escalating confrontations with the Philippines in recent months over disputed reefs and waters in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

“The Philippines is a sovereign state, not any country’s ‘doorstep,'” Teodoro said.

“Any deployment and procurement of assets related to the Philippines’ security and defense fall within its own sovereign prerogative and are not subject to any foreign veto,” he said in a statement.

Teodoro said upgrading the Philippines’ defenses “is not targeted against specific countries.”

He urged China’s Communist party rulers to “cease their saber rattling, stop their provocative actions (and) halt their interference in other countries’ internal affairs.”

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