Since 1898, the United States has sought to exercise control over the Philippines, originally through conquest and overt imperial rule. Though the United States formally recognized Philippine independence in 1946, it has not relinquished its functional sites of control over the archipelago. While the Philippines acceded to sovereign recognition as an independent state, the U.S. military remained within its territory and secured control over key bases. In the transition to formal independence, the United States managed to confer upon itself the right to use those bases rent-free while unburdening itself of many other costs associated with traditional colonial rule.

This Note traces two phases of U.S. dynamics in the Philippines: before and after Philippine independence from the United States. Applying international legal theoretical frameworks of colonial “conquest” and “consent,” this Note traces the strategic shifts in U.S. colonial dynamics in the Philippines. Part II discusses nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. imperialism, including the Spanish- and Philippine-American Wars, Philippine resistance to colonization, and legal justifications for Philippine subjugation. Part III identifies how U.S. control over the Philippines has shifted post-independence. This Note connects nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. imperialism, exerted through uneven base agreements and U.S. military control, to modern-day, twenty-first-century dynamics in the Philippines.

In addition, this Note proposes mechanisms for reimagining U.S.-Philippine military base agreements. Adopting a Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) framework, this Note considers methods to address colonial legacies and form more equitable base agreements. Ultimately, this Note claims that U.S.-Philippine base agreements must be renegotiated to be genuinely consent based and conscionable.

Continue Reading ““Control Without the Costs of Conquest”: Reimagining U.S. Military Bases in the Philippines“