Partido Lakas ng Masa (The Philippines): Rubio out! Stop US intervention and wars! Hands off our region!
[Editor’s note: Filipino socialist activist Khyl Ramos, from the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM, Party of the Labouring Masses), will be speaking at Ecosocialism 2026, September 11-13, Magan-djin/Brisbane, Australia. For more information visit ecosocialism.org.au.]
First published at Ang Masa Para sa Sosyalismo.
Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) condemns the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the Philippines to attend a series of ASEAN meetings. Rubio does not come as a friend of the Filipino people. He is one of the principal architects of U.S. imperialist foreign policy — a leading advocate of the economic siege and the overthrow of the Cuba’s revolutionary government, genocide in Gaza, escalating US-Israel war with Iran, and the expansion of U.S. military and economic dominance across the Asia-Pacific.
Rubio arrives in the Philippines as the U.S. is escalating the war against Iran, after betraying the ceasefire agreement, with President Trump declaring they would ‘open the gates of hell’ against Iran.
Rubio bears political and moral responsibility for the genocide committed by Israel-US on the Palestinian people in Gaza — therefore considered to be a war criminal by the Palestine solidarity movement.
Rubio is a very dangerous man on a very dangerous mission to the Philippines.
His visit is another step in Washington’s drive to tighten its grip on the Philippines and integrate our country more deeply into its confrontation with China. Rubio’s visit is officially aimed at deepening the U.S.-Philippines partnership and advancing Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy against China.
For decades, Rubio has been among the loudest defenders of the criminal U.S. blockade against Cuba. He has fought every effort to normalise relations, promoted Cuba’s continued designation as a so-called “State Sponsor of Terrorism,” and championed sanctions intended to strangle the Cuban economy by cutting off access to banking, fuel, tourism and international finance. These policies have imposed immense suffering on the Cuban people while failing to achieve their declared political objectives.
Rubio has also worked to isolate Cuba internationally by pressuring governments to support Washington’s campaign against the island and oppose efforts to end the blockade.
Rubio has made it abundantly clear that his aim is to overthrow the Cuban revolution. This will result in the establishment of a regime utterly subservient to US interests.
Rubio’s record extends across Latin America and the Middle East. He has consistently backed sanctions and regime-change operations against progressive governments in Latin America and Iran — the kidnapping of President Maduro and now the U.S. representative who de facto runs the Venezuelan government.
Rubio’s aggressive and interventionist foreign policy is contributing to greater instability and the constant danger of wider wars. His politics represent the continuation of a U.S. imperialist project that seeks to preserve US global dominance through military power, economic coercion and political interference.
In the Philippines, Rubio’s mission is clear: to consolidate Washington’s military alliance with the Marcos Jr. administration. As PLM has consistently warned, visits by senior U.S. officials are designed to push for greater U.S. military access, increased troop deployments and deeper integration of the Philippines into the U.S. war machine, regardless of the interests of the Filipino people. PLM has argued that such visits “push for more U.S. troops in the country” and further trample on Philippine sovereignty.
The Marcos Jr. administration has enthusiastically embraced this agenda. Through the expansion of EDCA sites, larger Balikatan exercises, increased rotational deployment of U.S. forces and the development of the Luzon Economic Corridor, the Philippines is being locked ever more tightly into Washington’s military and economic architecture. While the Luzon Economic Corridor is promoted as an infrastructure and investment initiative, it serves the strategic objective of strengthening U.S.-aligned supply chains and military logistics in preparation for intensified U.S. intervention in the Indo-Pacific. Rather than advancing genuine national development, these policies risk transforming the Philippines into a permanent forward operating base and frontline state in the U.S. war machine.
PLM rejects the use of our country as a pawn in U.S. imperialism’s strategy. We stand in solidarity with the Cuban people in their heroic resistance to more than six decades of economic warfare and with all peoples resisting imperialist intervention.
The Filipino people deserve an independent foreign policy based on peace, national sovereignty, regional cooperation and social justice — not subservience to Washington’s geopolitical agenda.
Rubio Out!
U.S. Hands Off Iran! Stop the War!
Stop Arming Genocide in Gaza!
Stop U.S. intervention in Cuba! Lift the U.S. blockade!
Junk EDCA, the Visiting Forces Agreement, and all unequal military agreements!
Reject the militarisation of the Philippines and the Luzon Economic Corridor as instruments of U.S. strategic domination!
Fight for an independent and genuinely sovereign Philippines!
Imperyalismo Ibagsak! Down with imperialism!
Itayo ang Gobyerno ng Masa! For a Government of the Masses!
July 19, 2026
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