Condemn US spy facilities in the Philippines -- CPP

Legu en Esperanto

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the US government for setting up telecom facilities in the Philippines to intercept internet traffic and telephone calls as part of its international intelligence network. The CPP condemns the Aquino regime for sitting idly by and allowing the US security and defense agencies to use the Philippines as a listening post, and wantonly engage in spy operations in outright violation of Philippine sovereignty.

“The CPP joins the Filipino people in expressing outrage at the espionage operations being conducted by the US government, in connivance with its allied governments, which violate Philippine sovereignty. The Filipino people cannot allow foreign imperialist powers to make use of the Philippines as a base for its interventionism against other independent countries,” added the CPP.

It is highly likely that the listening facilities are also being used by the US to spy on Philippine government officials in the same way that the US was revealed to have monitored the phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other heads of states. With such information in the hands of its spy agencies, US officials can effectively press the right buttons to push for policies and laws which will serve US economic, military and political interests, pointed out the CPP.

Information published a few days ago by the Australian news agency ABC reveal that the US had setup surveillance facilities in its various embassies and consulate offices including those in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Yangon, Manila, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai and Beijing. The information was based on a secret map and other documents which are among the stockpile of information offloaded by Edward Snowden from the National Security Agency servers where he worked there as a contractual employee in the IT department.

The documents, first published a week ago by German newspaper Der Spiegel, details the Stateroom program, a US-led intelligence gathering scheme which involves the interception of radio, telecommunications and internet traffic using equipment in US, British, Australian and Canadian diplomatic offices.

The CPP pointed out that “the rapid expansion of the US embassy facilities in Manila is likely related to the increased surveillance and other espionage operations being undertaken by the US defense and security agencies in the Philippines and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.”

“It is national treachery that Aquino and his officials, as well as other puppet politicians have refused to rise in protest against the US spy program which involves the use of the Philippines for US intelligence gathering,” said the CPP.

“It is a great shame that the Aquino regime has kept quiet amidst the international uproar against the US spy program,” said the CPP. The CPP pointed out that Malaysia, Indonesia and China have already summoned US, Australian and other international missions involved in the spy network to hold them responsible for their actions which violate the sovereignty of those countries. The US spy program has been roundly condemned by Germany, France, Brazil, Mexico and other countries.