25/06/2026
Members of Anakbayan Melbourne North Chapter oppose the Kasangga military war exercises carried out in the Philippines alongside the so-called Australian Defense Force. These month long exercises wrapped up yesterday.
First held in 2024, these annual drills are being held on Filipino soil, damaging land, water and threatening lives of the remote communities.
These war exercises are being used to strengthen the military alliance between the Australian and Philippine government, costing millions of dollars, while the broad majority of the Filipino people are suffering worsening conditions, as public funds for their basic needs are being funnelled into U.S. led militarisation in the Asia Pacific.
The puppet government chooses to waste millions on warfare to serve the interests of U.S. imperialism, while also repressing the struggle of the Filipino people in fighting for their basic demands. The partnering of the Australian Defence Force with the Armed Forces of the Philippines has carried out countless massacres of communities in the sake of continuing its domination in countries like the Philippines amidst imperialist competition for hegemony between the US and China.
The public funds that are supposed to be used for basic services are continuously being spent on the national security budget that increases every year. Due to this, over 60,000 Filipino children die every year before their 5th birthday, many deaths attributed to lack of access to nutrition, vaccination and health services. Whilst funding is ripped from the healthcare sector, it used for war exercise, including live fire drills, placement and detonation of explosive charges and weapons training.
The Filipino youth in Anakbayan Melbourne North, along with the toiling masses in the Philippines and the diaspora heavily oppose the ongoing warmongering of the US-Marcos Jr regime and its imperialist allies such as the Australian government, and calls on the rest of the Filipino people to continue the fight for self-determination and national democracy.
End the militarization of the Philippines and no to Kasangga!
