Patriotic and human rights groups have condemned and denounced continuing US military surveillance operations in Philippine territory as violative of Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity.

They strongly expressed this after a US military surveillance plane (a Beechcraft King Air 300 with registry number N349CA) contracted by the US Pentagon crashed in a ricefield in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao del Sur, last February 6 killing a U.S. Marine and three US Department of Defense military contractors. The crash occurred near farmers’ houses and killed a water buffalo, according to the international news agency Associated Press.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command admitted, “the aircraft was providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies. The incident occurred during a routine mission in support of U.S.-Philippine security cooperation activities”.

The Marcos regime should fully disclose the reason for the so-called US surveillance operation in Mindanao, how many of these operations were allowed and under what agreements were these allowed, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance, Bayan) stressed.

Bayan said the Marcos regime should answer why the US operation was conducted in Mindanao when the region is far from the so-called hotspot of the conflict between the US and China, which the Marcos regime and the US are using as justification for the US presence in the country.

Bayan also emphasized that the Marcos regime has been warning about Chinese interference and spying in the country while allowing US forces and spies to freely roam Philippine territory and use the Philippines as a military launching pad for US operations. The Marine who died in the February 6 crash was an intelligence and electrotonic warfare specialist.

The group strongly called for the immediate expulsion of US military forces from the Philippines, the termination of unequal military treaties with the US, such as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and subsequently, the dismantling of US military bases and stations in the country.

Meanwhile, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) related that the recent incident of US troops’ involvement in military operations in the country is not the first time.

The ICHRP said  following the 2001 US proclamation of the Philippines as the “2nd Front on the War on Terror” under the Bush Administration, US aid to “counter-terror” operations increased. It said, in 2015, after the Mamasapano incident, that happened during the Noynoy Aquino regime, which took the lives of five civilians in a so-called misencounter between the Philippine police and Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the body of a US military officer killed in the operation was among those retrieved, despite US denial. The ICHRP added that under the Duterte regime in 2017, the US played a role in directing and providing intelligence when the Armed Forces of the Philippines bombarded Marawi City, putting at risk the lives of thousands of civilians and displacing 400,000. The US has been using Mindanao as its military “laboratory”.

The group supported calls for a probe into the recent crash and demands for the immediate withdrawal of US troops and the halting of foreign military agreements with the Philippines.