The use of a US warship at the Cebu South Port for its Wartime Repair and Maintenance Exercise (SWARMEX) on March 25 endangered the Cebuano people. The SWARMEX involved the USS Ashland (LSD-48), an island-class landing ship, which docked at the pier supposedly to conduct “wartime repair” or for fixing of combat-related damage.

“Just like the US military’s use of civilian ro-ro vessels to transport vehicles, weapons, and other war matériel, its use of Cebu South Port for its war games risks civilian lives and infrastructure,” Communist Party of the Philippines information officer Marco Valbuena said.

The Cebu South Pier is a purely civilian facility. It is a commercial and transport hub for goods and passengers across the Visayas. Using it for US military purposes endangers civilian infrastructure and commercial flow not only within the Visayas but also between Luzon and Mindanao. The US aims to include Cebu in its planned “unsinkable repair network” for its warships across Asia.

“Not content with appropriating the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu Lapu City for ‘dual-use’ civilian and EDCA site, the US is now taking over the island’s main pier as well,” Valbuena added. The US has already been using the airport as a fuel depot and launch pad for warplanes heading to the South China Sea.

The US chose Cebu because of its relative distance from the country’s western coast, where large American military bases are positioned. The US is aware of Cebu’s strategic advantage, especially if its enemies strike Subic and Clark first.

“Even when claiming that SWARMEX is only a ‘rehearsal,’ the US is clearly testing the Cebu pier’s capability as a military facility and part of its preparation for imperialist war in Asia,” Valbuena said.

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