The incoming Trump administration will have devastating impacts not only on Americans, but those living in countries suffocated by the never-ending chokehold of US imperialism. As Chicago’s US Out of the Philippines Coalition, we call attention to the dangers that this second Trump presidency poses for Filipinos both in the diaspora and in the Philippines. A recent phone call between Philippine President Ferdinand ‘BongBong’ Marcos Jr. and Trump after the latter’s presidential win made the collusion between these corrupt governments painfully clear.
As reported by Rappler, in a call congratulating Trump on his win, Marcos made a sweeping—if not entirely incorrect—statement about Filipino Americans: That we are overwhelmingly in support of Trump. This neglects to take into account the hundreds of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the belly of empire who’ve taken up the responsibility of fighting against fascism—both in the U.S. and in the Philippines—through involvement with human rights organizations, mutual aid efforts, and more.
Instead of strategizing to materially and legally support these individuals and help them stay in the US, Romualdez and other officials told undocumented Filipinos to self-deport.
Though Trump has yet to officially come into office, we are already seeing the ramifications of his upcoming neo-fascist regime particularly on the most vulnerable in our communities—those who are undocumented, uninsured, or unhoused.
In 2023, Cebu Daily News reported that there are an estimated 300,000 undocumented Filipinos across the United States—making up 3% of Filipinos in the country total. Under Trump, their rights will be acutely threatened, leading to long-lasting and life-changing events.
Just days after Trump’s re-election, on November 11, Philippines Ambassador to the US Jose Romualdez announced that all seven US Philippine consul-generals would meet in December to discuss assistance for Filipinos under threat by Trump’s “mass deportation plan.”
Instead of strategizing to materially and legally support these individuals and help them stay in the US, Romualdez and other officials told undocumented Filipinos to self-deport and return to the Philippines under the guise of a “repatriation plan.”
The Philippine consul-general’s reaction to Trump’s administrative attacks against our migrant kababayan (fellow Filipinos) woefully misdirects blame onto them instead of on the political and economic forces that have put them in these precarious situations. Not only does Romualdez’s rhetoric falsely assume our kababayans’s agency in their situations as undocumented individuals, but it is also the most recent and most glaring example of how the Philippines’ exploitative labor export policy continues to jeopardize the lives of the Filipino people for the sake of bolstering capitalist and imperialist interests.
Roots of Labor Export Policy in the Philippines
BongBong Marcos’ presidency itself is a rerun of fascist rule under his political clan, coming 36 years after the rule of his father Ferdinand Marcos Sr. During Marcos Sr.’s 20+ year dictatorship, his violent political suppression was unable to quell the dissent of the masses, whose many actions across class and sector successfully lead to his removal from power in the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
Even in the midst of his terror reign, Marcos Sr. was confronted by the inadequacies of his bureaucratic and capitalist interests. Attempting to offset growing unrest around rising joblessness and poverty, Marcos instituted the Labor Export Policy (LEP) in 1974. LEP aimed to circumvent the government’s economic responsibility to its people by promoting the overseas exportation of Filipino laborers. This policy made it abundantly clear that the Philippine government viewed its people as a commodity within its export-oriented economy and set in motion the extremely high migration rates of Filipino workers to the United States.
There is no masking the blatant use of Filipino laborers as bargaining chips for inter-governmental bidding.
Today, unlivable wages in the Philippines continue to shape the waves of Filipino emigration to the United States and other countries. Over 6,000 Filipinos leave the Philippines for work every day. While abroad, Filipino laborers experience heightened exploitation due to documentation status, gender, and race. Undocumented workers are especially vulnerable to wage theft, illegal recruitment, trafficking, and labor fraud. In April, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union reported that from September to December 2023, 6 Filipino fisherman (the United 6) were abandoned in Westport, Washington by the American company McAdams Fish. Their employer provided no communication around their circumstance except the threat of deportation if they attempted to exit the boat, isolating each man on separate ships from each other and their families. Reyner Dagalea, one of the United 6, said, “I always remember my family in the Philippines, worried that I cannot support them financially due to the situation.”
Even the relief from social isolation through family reunification is temporary for many Filipinos. Many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who return to the Philippines are forced to leave the country again, unable to support their livelihoods on the wages offered from the Philippine job market; at the same time, the government profits from the cyclical influx of foreign currency and bolsters its own GDP by writing off these remittances at “domestic revenue.”
The response of Romualdez and other consular and embassy officials to Trump’s deportation agenda makes clear the Philippine government’s own agenda to shift their export of migrant Filipino labor elsewhere, including Hungary and Japan. There is no masking the blatant use of Filipino laborers as bargaining chips for inter-governmental bidding.
In response to Romualdez’s announcement of an early December “repatriation plan” meeting between all Philippine embassies and consulates in the US, Migrante USA called for a nationwide phone zap to demand protection for undocumented workers. The governing bodies continue to ignore the questions of the masses and flat out cut communication lines to deter vocalization of dissent. The D.C. consulate conveyed to one caller that notes from the joint meeting “won’t be shared with the public until after the meeting occurs,” yielding no information regarding the date, time, and current agenda.
The meeting to discuss the so-called repatriation plan ultimately took place on December 10th—unbeknownst to the masses—which coincided with a planned ICHRP (International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines) conference that aimed to bring forth human rights legislation directly to House representatives. Ironically, while Filipinos and allies protested outside of the Philippine Embassy in D.C., Romualdez and other Filipino authorities gathered inside for the repatriation meeting. No undocumented Filipinos were allowed in to voice their concerns—room at the table instead given to representatives from the Departments of National Defense, Tourism, and Trade and Industry. The embassy itself declared the meeting to prioritize “bilateral security and economic relations,” making clear the absence of care for the people who will be impacted.
The Fatal Consequences of Military Presence and Spending
The Philippine government’s woefully inadequate and sinister response to Trump’s mass deportation plan, which includes a measly budget to supposedly “help” repatriated Filipinos, inadvertently highlights where our money is being spent: militarization and plunder.
Instead of being used to fund social services that would directly and materially alleviate the struggle of the Philippine masses, government spending is instead going to bolstering international war games and the strengthening of US imperialism. Plans between the US and the Philippines to establish new military bases on the archipelago have led to mass displacement of Filipinos from their land, as well as colossal environmental destruction.
New legislation being introduced into Congress will also ensure the United States’ unfettered expansion and solidification in the Philippines for years to come.
In addition to growing American military presence in the islands, the annual Balikatan exercises, which involves 16,000 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and US military members across 38 training sessions, has led to exacerbated and accelerated climate change in the region through indiscriminate bombings of Philippine waters, the destruction of protected reefs, and the dumping of exponential amounts of waste and chemicals.
New legislation being introduced into Congress will also ensure the United States’ unfettered expansion and solidification in the Philippines for years to come. The Philippines Enhanced Resilience Act (PERA Act) is a bill that is attempting to approve $500M in military funding to the Philippines a year over the next five years, totalling $2.5 billion in foreign aid.
This not only provides the funds for the US to increase militarization, surveillance, and presence in the Pacific region, but drastically diminishes the amount of US tax dollars that could be better spent bolstering social services for the American people—services that the Trump administration will undoubtedly gut.
As activists, we know that promises of increased peace and security are mere coverups for more sinister goals of the US: to antagonize China on the international stage and to reinvigorate its control over former colonies like the Philippines. We know that foreign involvement, especially when bolstered by a corrupt local government, will only fuel the interests of the wealthy while deepening the suffering of the Filipino people.
As US taxpayers, it is imperative that we use our voices within the imperial core to reject the PERA Act and forge a new way forward: one that has the masses and liberation at its heart.
Reject Complacency, Act in Solidarity
Since 2016, $550 million has passed between the countries in military aid. Monetary support of violent militarization in the US goes beyond just American military presence, extending to the direct funding of human rights abuses by the Philippine government itself. The US-backed Duterte and Marcos regimes have claimed the lives of over 30,000 Filipinos across the archipelago, victims ranging from the urban poor and peasant farmers to environmental activists and government critics. The investment in death and destruction directly aligns with the divestment from Filipino masses toiling at home and abroad.
In identifying the struggles happening abroad, we sharpen our analysis of the conditions faced by Filipino migrant workers in our immediate communities.
Living in the belly of the beast, we call for the suspension of our taxpayer dollars towards the state violence enacted upon the Filipino people at the hands of the Philippine government. The US government invests millions into arming the brutality of its political puppets, while millions of Filipinos live and work in our communities here without adequate support. In this reality, we understand that it is a crucial bare minimum duty to our people that the Philippines Human Rights Act (PHRA) is passed, which would suspend all American military aid to the Philippines until human rights abuses are investigated.
We see time and time again that the interest of our people is not in alignment with the self-interest of the government and its imperialist ventures. We must take it upon ourselves to make our demands unignorable!
Mass education and agitation prove themselves time and time again as critical tools for jamming the cogs of the US War Machine. To fight against it, we must raise consciousness across all sectors towards the liberation of the Filipino people. In identifying the struggles happening abroad, we sharpen our analysis of the conditions faced by Filipino migrant workers in our immediate communities. Now more than ever, it is the time to link arms with our undocumented kababayan and advocate for the welfare of Filipino people at home and abroad.
Take Action!
It can sometimes feel like systems as massive and ubiquitous as imperialism are impossible to topple, but we believe that being in the imperial core uniquely positions us to leverage the privileges we have to get involved and fight against the US War Machine.
Join a Local Organization
One of the first steps to enacting meaningful change is to come together to defeat fascist regimes, and joining a local organization is no small part of this. Whether or not you are Filipino or Filipino American, there are plenty of solidarity organizations that would benefit from your skill sets, passion, and rage. For example, Chicago’s US Out of the Philippines Coalition is comprised of local Anakbayan chapters, Malaya Movement Northside, and the Philippine US Solidarity Org (PUSO).
Take Part in Mass Coordinated Action
While our focus as Filipino/Filipino American activists is primarily on ending imperialism in the Philippines, we believe that it is our duty to prop and amplify causes that demand, “US out of Everywhere!” Whether it’s taking to the streets or boycotting corporations, we’re stronger in numbers. From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go! Free Congo, Free Sudan, Free the People, Free the Land!
Back Anti-Imperialist Legislation
To combat the colossal damage that the PERA Act would cause, US-based Filipino human rights organizations and organizations in solidarity with the Philippine struggle for genuine sovereignty and democracy are pushing to pass the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA). The PHRA calls for the suspension of US military aid to the Philippines until human rights violations by Philippine security officials cease and responsible state forces are held accountable. Wherever in the US you might be located, you can also write to your local representative and urge them to reject the PERA Act and pass the PHRA!
