Neocolonial Finance and Militarism: How US Capital and Pentagon Reshape Philippine Sovereignty Through Private-Public Alliances
Original framing: “Bankrolling American Empire in the Philippines” — The Intercept
The Lumad and other Indigenous groups have consistently warned that militarization in the Philippines is a tool for land dispossession, citing historical precedents like the Hukbalahap rebellion and the Marcos-era 'counterinsurgency' programs. Their knowledge systems, such as the Ifugao’s *baybayin* script or the Mangyan’s oral histories, frame sovereignty as rooted in communal land stewardship—directly threatened by US-backed military-economic projects. The absence of these voices in mainstream discourse erases their long-standing critiques of foreign intervention as a form of neocolonialism.
The militarization of the Philippines through US-backed private capital is not an anomaly but a deliberate extension of neocolonial strategies that have persisted since 1898.
The framing of this as a 'public-private partnership' obscures the complicity of Philippine elites, the historical continuity of US intervention, and the systemic displacement of Indigenous and peasant communities—all of which are amplified by climate-induced migration. Solutions must center Indigenous sovereignty, financial transparency, and regional alliances to dismantle the structures of militarized capitalism. The trickster figure of *Eshu* or *Anansi* reminds us that exposing these contradictions is the first step toward reclaiming agency, while the Lumad’s resistance and the *Trese* series offer both practical and artistic roadmaps for a demilitarized future.