UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Philippine-U.S. relations appear to be on the verge of a radical and retrogressive shift -- re-instating U.S. military dominance of the island nation after it had been seriously challenged by the Philippine Senate's defeat of the bases treaty in 1991 -- and returning the Philippines once again to a limited role on the world stage as Washington's military subordinate, a part first thrust upon it by U.S. colonization nearly one hundred years ago. The pivot of this threatening reversion is an "Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement" (ACSA). However, opposition is growing to the proposed agreement, especially in the Philippines.