Beside me is a copy of the book, “The bases of our insecurity,” by Roland Simbulan, a noted U.P. scholar and nationalist. First published in 1985 at the height of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s martial law, it is the former’s seminal work on the presence of US military bases in the Philippines. I have kept the book all these decades in reverence to the academically reliable Simbulan, and in reluctant anticipation of a time when I’d gingerly want to open its pages anew.  

Such a time has come today.

Last week, American military officials announced that one of their powerful missile systems currently stationed in the Philippines will be “shipped back” to the U.S. mainland come September. The act itself—returning the war equipment—presupposed that it was here at all and that hardly an eyebrow was raised.

The missile system isn’t something to sneeze at. The Mid-Range Capability (MRC) system is said to be capable of firing Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles, both of which can carry nuclear payloads. 

These missiles arrived here last April, parked somewhere in Northern Luzon, as part of our existing mutual defense agreement with the U.S.—accords that have paradoxically remained in place despite the expulsion of American military bases in 1991. (And while we’re at it, who’s not to say that other nuclear warheads remain hidden from our view and scrutiny?)

And why is the MRC system being returned, seemingly in haste? Hardly coincidental is a warning made by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country can resume its arms production and deployment in direct response to U.S. expansionism.

“Today, it is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems but has already brought them to Europe for exercises, to Denmark. Quite recently, it was announced that they are in the Philippines,” he was quoted last week.

And so, but of course, guess who blinked?

 And yet, why were the missiles (or others yet undetected) here in the first place?

It isn’t hard to deduce that the U.S., hating and fearing China since forever, has been trying to egg us into war footing with the latter to protect its own geopolitical interests. It’s Vietnam all over again, a glaring and uncanny parallel that, curiously, appears to be lost on our political leaders.

 An incident on June 17 involving China’s coast guard and one of our resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal quickly escalated into a word war, with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. declaring that Beijing’s “dangerous and reckless behavior in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) will be resisted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.” (In fact, as early as last year, Teodoro was quoted to have called Beijing a “squatter” and an “illegal occupant” in the WPS.)

 “We will do more” than just protest, said President Marcos. 

Tough words.

All that macho strutting hogged the headlines of a predominantly hawkish press, only to end up diffused and practically negated by none other than the president himself. On July 4, he directed his armed forces to “de-escalate” the crisis.

A bungling bureaucracy. An incoherent foreign policy. And bombs, of the nuclear kind, waiting to be detonated. As Simbulan wrote in a book review last year, “Unfortunately, the US … is ready to risk war with China, to ensure its dominance of the Western Pacific region and prevent China from replacing the US as the dominant power.”

In my mind are the haunting strains of “Nukleyar,” the boldly staged rock opera by Filipino playwright Al Santos: “Itigil ang karerang nukleyar / Itigil ang karerang nukleyar / Iparinig sabuong mundo / Ang awit ng bukas / Itigil ang karerangnukleyar.”