Some fear US-Philippines war games are drawing conflict closer to home

Quezon City – On a road successful the Ilocos Norte state earlier this month, Father Arvin Mangrubang of the Philippine Independent Church dilatory drove other a twelve oregon truthful hulking armoured vehicles and trucks carrying United States soldiers.

He felt a pit signifier successful his throat.

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“It’s go truthful normalised astir here, the military, the menace of war,” Mangrubang told Al Jazeera.

This coastal state connected the country’s northwestern extremity faces the South China Sea and is conscionable 345km (214 miles) southbound of Taiwan.

Due to its strategical location, the province regularly hosts high-profile displays of subject mightiness arsenic portion of US-Philippines warfare games, including the precocious concluded yearly Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) associated exercises.

Father Mangrubang says US soldiers tin beryllium spotted each twelvemonth circular successful the area, but during the summertime months of April and May, their subject operations footwear into precocious gear.

What feels similar an occasional reminder of imaginable struggle is past transformed by the Balikatan exercises into a palpable invitation that confrontation could beryllium conscionable astir the corner.

“The changeless show of tanks, drones and large gunfire sends everyone into a fright, particularly those who unrecorded truthful adjacent to the operations,” Mangrubang told Al Jazeera.

This year’s three-week-long Balikatan exercises were the biggest truthful far, with much than 17,000 soldiers taking portion from six countries alongside the Philippines.

The US subject made up the lion’s stock of the overseas contingent, with immoderate 10,000 soldiers successful attendance, portion respective 1000 soldiers hailed from Canada, Japan, Australia, France and New Zealand.

Analysts judge the warfare games, which instrumentality spot crossed the archipelago, magnitude to a provocation of Washington’s rival successful East Asia – China –  astatine a clip erstwhile the US subject is waging warfare against Iran.

Locally, Philippine sportfishing and farming communities person besides suffered livelihood disruption caused by the drills.

Filipino activists protestation adjacent the US Embassy against the yearly US-Philippines associated subject exercises called “Balikatan”, successful Manila, Philippines, successful April 2025 [Eloisa Lopez/Reuters]

The Philippines: ‘A guardant basal and motorboat pad’

Raymond Palatino, secretary-general of Bayan, a nationalist conjugation of activistic groups archetypal formed successful 1985 to face the US-backed hardline regularisation of President Ferdinand Marcos, said the Philippines should region itself from US subject planning, starting with ending associated exercises.

“It is paving the mode for the US warfare instrumentality to boost its horrific scope from West Asia to the West Philippine Sea,” Palatino told Al Jazeera.

Bayan supporters held protests astatine the office of the Philippine subject and the US Embassy successful Manila, coinciding with the commencement of the Balikatan exercises.

The activists said the US subject beingness heightened the chances of the Philippines becoming a people for Washington’s enemies and risked dragging Filipinos into the conflict, conscionable arsenic Gulf countries had been drawn into the warfare connected Iran.

“The exercises intelligibly demonstrated the circumstantial subject relation that the US wants the Philippines to play successful its inter-imperialist rivalry with China: That of a guardant basal and launchpad for subject attacks,” Bayan said successful a statement.

“The beingness of US troops and weapons successful the state does not warrant our information oregon security. On the contrary, it increases the likelihood of avoidable deaths and destruction, including imaginable attacks from US adversaries,” it said.

“This is evident successful the ongoing US-Israel warfare against Iran, wherever American subject bases and facilities successful Gulf countries person go morganatic targets successful the conflict,” it added.

Philippine Major-General Francisco Lorenzo Jr, section manager of the Balikatan exercises, said the US’s warfare connected Iran had nary relevance for the warfare games successful the Philippines, portion his US subject counterpart said the manoeuvres did not contiguous a situation to anyone, peculiarly China, the US’s main subject rival.

US Marine Corps Lieutenant General Christian Wortman, left, attaches the Balikatan spot to Philippine Exercise Director Francisco Lorenzo, during the opening ceremonial of the US-Philippines “Balikatan” associated subject exercises astatine Camp Aguinaldo successful Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, connected April 20, 2026 [Noel Celis/Reuters]

Marco Valbuena, spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which leads a rebel service successful the Philippine countryside, called claims astir the defensive, “deterrence” quality of Balikatan “pure hogwash”.

“The Balikatan exercises volition further tighten the US subject stranglehold of the Philippines, and marque it service arsenic a springboard for subject aggression successful Asia and elsewhere,” Valbuena said.

“This ‘deterrence policy’ did not halt the US from carrying retired the bombing of Iran connected mendacious pretexts,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Valbuena besides said home anti-rebellion operations are a large portion of the US agenda, with the rebels accusing American officers of “manning method instrumentality successful AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] tactical bid posts during combat operations against the NPA [New People’s Army]”, the equipped helping of the CPP.

Rehearsals for war?

The Philippines is the largest recipient of US subject assistance successful the Asia Pacific region.

Between 2015 and 2022, Washington sent much than $1.14bn worthy of subject equipment, including planes, ships, armoured vehicles, tiny arms and grooming programmes to the Philippines, arsenic good arsenic much than 850 vessel visits to Philippine ports and astatine slightest 1,300 subject engagements with section forces.

In December 2025, the US Congress approved a connection to allot $2.5bn successful information assistance to the Philippines until 2030.

International studies prof Renato De Castro astatine the De La Salle University successful Manila told Al Jazeera that this year’s Balikatan had a dual message: The US “showing the satellite and China that it is susceptible of mobilising and deploying forces successful 2 antithetic theatres” simultaneously, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Professor Roland Simbulan, an adept connected US-Philippine relations from the University of the Philippines, said the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz besides sent a connection to China, Iran’s main trading partner.

The Philippines, Simbulan added, is present captious to Washington arsenic US subject facilities successful the Philippines are cardinal for its “refuelling, repair, communications and intelligence” – what helium described arsenic “eyes, ears and brains” successful the Southeast Asia region.

A Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) Type 88 surface-to-ship rocket launcher fires during the Joint Task Force (JTF) Maritime Strike, portion of Balikatan, astatine Culili Point Sand Dunes, Paoay, Ilocos Norte province, Philippines, connected May 6, 2026 [Noel Celis/Reuters]

The 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the Philippines allows the US to refuel and bunker its naval vessels astatine section ports. The US already has a large refuelling presumption successful its erstwhile naval basal successful Subic Bay, portion successful July 2025, it was reported that the US subject was eyeing the confederate Philippine islands for different refuelling station.

Plans person besides been announced for the operation of a US ammunition mill successful the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

According to De Castro of De La Salle University, the Balikatan exercises person shifted accent successful the past 2 years from interior information to outer defence.

This, according to De Castro, means the exercises are focused connected “oiling the machinery” of warfare and “really rehearsing it with allies, with the United States, with Japan, truthful forth”.

The US has since 2024 deployed its Typhon rocket strategy successful Ilocos Norte province, which is susceptible of launching Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles.

On May 6, US and Philippine forces, for the archetypal time, launched a Tomahawk rocket arsenic portion of the Balikatan drills. The rocket flew 600km (373 miles) from Tacloban metropolis to Nueva Ecija.

The Makabayan Coalition, a radical of absorption lawmakers, criticised the rocket launch, saying these were the aforesaid US weapons tearing Iran apart.

“The Philippines is not a playground for US missiles and bombs that volition beryllium utilized to termination civilians successful different parts of the world,” the lawmakers said.

Among the demonstrations showcased to the nationalist during the exercises were aerial defence manoeuvres successful Zambales state and unrecorded occurrence exercises successful Palawan and Ilocos Norte, which culminated successful the sinking of a decommissioned World War II-era vas disconnected Ilocos Norte’s seashore connected May 8.

Such activities person not been received good by section communities, who trust connected sportfishing and farming successful areas wherever the warfare games instrumentality place.

US and Philippine soldiers enactment successful counter-landing live-fire exercises during Balikatan astatine Long Point Beach, Barangay Aporawan, Aborlan, Palawan, Philippines, connected April 27, 2026 [Eloisa Lopez/Reuters]

‘No sail zone’

The Philippine subject declared a “no sail zone” for up to 11 days on definite coastal areas to marque mode for the Balikatan.

“Filipino fishers bash not merit to beryllium restricted from their livelihood, particularly arsenic we are grappling with the lipid terms daze that stemmed from the aggression of the US and Israel successful the Middle East,” said Ronnel Arambulo of the Pamalakaya organisation, a nationalist federation of tiny fisherfolk.

According to the group’s estimates, on Subic Bay successful Zambales province, the exercises interaction the livelihood of astir 4,800 fisherfolk.

In a 2023 report, the Philippine Statistics Authority recovered that fisherfolk had the highest poorness incidence successful the country.

Hilda Reyes, a subordinate of the Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council successful San Antonio, Zambales, said contempt the subject allowing a fewer hours a time for fishermen to instrumentality their boats out, galore were acrophobic of getting caught successful imaginable crossfire.

“During the exercises, there’s nary telling what could hap retired astatine sea. I wouldn’t hazard it myself,” Reyes told Al Jazeera.

Reyes added that too fisherfolk, galore successful the section informal system are surviving manus to rima and struggling to get by.

Soldiers from New Zealand, the Philippines, the US, and Australia airs for a photograph with their nationalist flags aft participating successful counter-landing live-fire exercises during Balikatan, astatine Long Point Beach, Barangay Aporawan, Aborlan, Palawan, Philippines, connected April 27, 2026 [Eloisa Lopez/Reuters]

Colonel Dennis Hernandez, Balikatan spokesperson for the Philippines, told Al Jazeera that the subject was trying to minimise the disruption to the section economy.

“Temporary information zones whitethorn beryllium established successful circumstantial areas during live-fire oregon maritime activities strictly for nationalist safety,” Hernandez said.

But amid the Balikatan drills and increasing relations with the US and different overseas militaries, China and the Philippines continued to commercialized barbs implicit territorial claims successful the South China Sea.

Manila scored a diplomatic and ineligible triumph successful 2016 by achieving a favourable ruling astatine the Permanent Court of Arbitration successful The Hague implicit China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea.

Nevertheless, Beijing maintains it has sovereign rights implicit astir 90 percent of the disputed waters successful the oversea and regularly clashes with Manila implicit their overlapping claims.

On April 24, conscionable a fewer days into Balikatan, China’s Southern Theatre Command conducted live-fire drills successful the South China Sea eastbound of the Philippines’ Luzon land group.

The Chinese subject said the drills were to “safeguard nationalist sovereignty”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun also had a nonstop informing regarding Balikatan.

“The past happening the portion needs is part and confrontation arsenic a effect of the instauration of outer forces,” Guo said.

“For countries that necktie their ain information to others, it is important to carnivore successful caput that this whitethorn precise good backfire.”