In this report, Roland G. Simbilan assesses ten years of unconstitutional US military presence in the Philippines. Since 1999, heavily armed US soldiers are allowed to enter Filipino territory without passports or visas, for so-called joint training exercises. Without clearance from customs or immigration authorities, without quarantine clearances from Filipino health authorities, without licences or registration for driving their vehicles, and immune to prosecution for crimes committed, US soldiers use the Filipino countryside as a free-fire zone for fire practice with live ammunition, killing, injuring and maiming  people and children. US soldiers have gotten away with murder, attempted murder, rape, sexual harassment, torture and destruction of the environment. All due to the "Visiting Forces Agreement."

Centennial Professor at the University of the Philippines and Senior Fellow of CENPEG, Roland G. Simbulan has been a central figure in the popular resistance against US military presence in the Philippines for the past decades, and author of numerous articles and books, among which the influential book The bases of our insecurity: A study of the US military bases in the Philippines.

Read the entire report (PDF)