Visiting forces pact goes through thorough review

From the Manila Times (Nov 21): Visiting forces pact goes through thorough review

An official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) admitted that the department is currently reviewing the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that is now under scrutiny amid accusations that a US contractor has been dumping hazardous waste in Subic Bay. Raul Hernandez, Foreign Affairs spokesman, said that the department has been doing “a lot of reviewing regarding the VFA.” But the department’s official clarified that any decision regarding the termination of the agreement, which was entered into by the United States and the Philippine governments in 1999, must come from the Office of the President. He refused to say which provisions of the VFA are the focus of the review. Over the weekend, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago urged again the administration to terminate the VFA in light of the recent controversy involving the Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a US Naval ship service contractor allegedly dumping hazardous wastes in Subic Bay. Santiago said that she will file a resolution with the Senate that will direct the Foreign Affairs department to give notice of termination of the VFA to the United States. But Hernandez denied any knowledge if the resolution has been received yet by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario. The senator said that the contractor has failed to comply and violated, Philippine laws, as well as international norms on the protection and the conservation of the environment. The Visiting Forces Agreement is a bilateral agreement between the United States and the Philippines that became effective in 1999 after its ratification in the Philippine Senate. The treaty was deemed unconstitutional by some critics because it allows the US government to retain jurisdiction of their personnel as long as the crimes they committed in the Philippines are of no “significant” value to the country. It also exempts the US military from visa and passport regulations in the country. But critics also believed that the VFA is a pretense to allow the deployment of US troops who will supposedly provide training exercises, also called Balikatan, for Filipino soldiers. Since its signing, some 600 US Special Forces troops have been deployed to the Philippines to assist in the fight against the decades-old Muslim insurgency in Mindanao (south of Manila).

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/nation/35724-visiting-forces-pact-goes-through-thorough-review