MANILA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Senator Imee Marcos on Thursday expressed concern over the deployment of a U.S. mid-range missile system in Ilocos Norte province in the northern Philippines.
Marcos, chair of the Philippine Senate committee on foreign relations, told the Pandesal Forum in Quezon City that the presence of the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, put Filipinos in grave danger.
Marcos, also the sister of Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., said the Americans are using the Filipinos as a "human shield" by planting the missile system in northern Luzon Island.
"Is the DND (Department of National Defense) really using Ilocanos as human shields? Is it necessary for civilians to be at risk?" she asked.
"What's the purpose? To make (the civilian area) a target? It's not ours, and we can't use it. What's the point of having it there where Filipino civilians, who aren't soldiers, could become human shields?" she added.
She advocated for the Philippines to build self-reliance in defense and adopt a genuinely independent foreign policy, avoiding overdependence on any one power.
The missile system in question arrived in the Philippines in April for the U.S.-Philippines joint military drills, the first time the United States has deployed a mid-range missile system overseas and in Asia-Pacific since the end of the Cold War. ■
