RP to build air, naval bases for US use

From the Daily Tribune (Jun 28): RP to build air, naval bases for US use

TO COUNTER CHINA’S ‘CREEPING’ PRESENCE

The Senate had already junked the American bases in the Philippines, and the 1987 Constitution bans the presence of foreign bases and the troops, as well as vessels equipped with nuclear arms. But the Philippine military, now under its commander in chief, President Aquino, has revived plans to build new air and naval bases at Subic Bay — once an American base — which the US military would be free to use to counter China’s creeping presence in the disputed South China Sea.

Manila confirmed this yesterday as defense officials said it is looking to give the US and Japan greater access to its military bases, as it seeks to counter what it perceives as a rising security threat from China.

The government is initially drafting a plan that would allow US forces to spend more time on Filipino bases, something that could also be offered to Japan’s military later, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said.

“If and when there is agreement on the access, then there will be equipment coming in from the (United) States,” Gazmin told a joint news conference in Manila after meeting with visiting Japan Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. “Now as far as Japan is concerned, we do welcome other countries — particularly Japan since Japan is a strategic partner — in accordance with our existing protocols.”

President Aquino had already stated that the Philippines would welcome an increased US military presence, amid tense disputes with China over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea.

However Gazmin’s comments indicated the Philippines was hoping to expand on the standard military exercises that the two nations’ armed forces regularly engage in.

“Modalities for the increased rotational presence are right now being examined. One modality is the conduct of high-value, high-impact exercise,” Gazmin said, without elaborating.

However Gazmin emphasized the plan would not see any new bases or a permanent US presence in the Philippines.

The United States had tens of thousands of troops stationed in the Philippines, at the Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base north of Manila, until the early 1990s.

The United States, a former colonial ruler of the Philippines, was forced to abandon the bases amid anti-US sentiment and a row over rent. The Constitution now bans any permanent foreign bases in the Philippines.

However the Clark and Subic facilities, now partly converted to business use, still host and service US military aircraft and warships on short-term exercises.

One of those began Thursday in waters between the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and a disputed shoal now occupied by China.

Several hundred US Special Forces troops have also been rotating through the southern Philippines since early 2002 to train Filipino soldiers who are fighting Islamic militants.

The bases would allow the Philippines to station warships and fighter jets just 124 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal, a contentious area of the South China Sea now controlled by China after a tense standoff last year, newswire reports said.

A senior military officer said of the plan to build bases for the US: “The chances of this plan taking off under President Aquino are high because his administration has been very supportive in terms of equipment upgrade,” said a senior military officer who asked not to be identified.The people around him understood our needs and more importantly, what our country is facing at this time.”

Constitutionlists, however, raised doubts over the revived bases plan of the Aquino government.

In a GMA online interview, it was reported that former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Christian Monsod took the view that the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ plan appears to be a way of skirting certain constitutional provisions.

“If it’s a foreign military base or a foreign military facility, it is not allowed in the Philippines, except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate,” Sarmiento said.
Monsod echoed Sarmiento’s views and added: “The provision is clear and self-explanatory.”

The Navy officials, however, stressed that the military bases would be for the Philippines and not the US, saying that P10 billion would be used for the development plan, upon President Aquino’s approval.

“That sounds like a circumvention of the Constitutional provision—stretching what is now allowed,” Monsod was quoted as saying in the report.

The Aquino government is now crafting an agreement that would allow United States access to their former military bases in the country, Gazmin admitted yesterday.

During a press conference with his Japanese counterpart Minister Itsunori Onodera in Camp Aguinaldo, Gazmin, however, stressed that such access agreement will be within the Constitution and anchored on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

“We are in the process of crafting the agreement based on, relative to our Constitution and the VFA,” said Gazmin.

“After that is done then we will be allowing, if and when, there is agreement on the access then there will be equipment coming in from the US,” added Gazmin.

Gazmin said that should an agreement is reached, other countries, particularly Japan, will also be allowed access to military bases.

“As far as Japan is concerned, we do welcome other countries, particularly Japan, since Japan is a strategic partner in accordance with our existing protocols,” said Gazmin.

At present, US troops are allowed temporary stay in the Philippines under the VFA but not permanent bases.

It will be noted that Filipino and US troops are regularly conducting joint military exercises in various parts of the Philippines under the existing Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the VFA.

Aside from the US, the Philippines and Australia also has a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) which was ratified by the Senate in July last year.

Allowing access to US equipment to military bases in the country was first brought up by Gazmin last April at the height of the tension in the Korean Peninsula.

Gazmin then said that the Philippines could allow access to military bases under “extreme emergencies” like when there is war.

However, such pronouncements were met by criticisms from various militant groups.
Japan also yesterday pledged to help the Philippines defend its “remote islands”, as both governments expressed concern over China’s robust moves to stake its claims to disputed Asian waters.

Japanese Defense Minister Onodera said China’s contentious claim to nearly all of the South China Sea and its territorial dispute with Japan in the East China Sea were discussed during top-level talks in Manila.

“We agreed that we will further co-operate in terms of the defense of remote islands... the defense of territorial seas as well as protection of maritime interests,” Onodera told a joint news conference.

“We face a very similar situation in the East China Sea of Japan. The Japan side is very concerned that this kind of situation in the South China Sea could affect the situation in the East China Sea,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Gazmin welcomed Japan’s offer of support for its poorly resourced military.

“We have agreed to continue our exchanges of information, exchanges of technology to help each other to make our defence relations stronger,” Gazmin said.

Neither side offered specifics but Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said in February his country was expecting to get 10 new Japanese patrol boats within 18 months.

The Japanese military brutally occupied the Philippines during World War II, but the two countries have since grown closer due to trade and investment, and more recently, through China’s assertiveness.

Del Rosario told the Financial Times newspaper in December that a rearmed Japan would help the region counter-balance China.

Onodera and Gazmin also on Thursday welcomed an increased military presence in Asia by their mutual ally, the United States.

However Onodera said Japan was intent on avoiding conflict with China.

“I would also like to emphasize here that the current situation should not be changed with the use of force but should be done through the rule of law,” Onodera said.

China claims most of the South China Seam including waters close to its neighbours’ coasts. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have competing claims.

The Philippines has complained of increased Chinese “bullying” in the contested waters in recent years, and infuriated China by appealing to allies Japan and the United States for help.

The Philippines says China last year occupied an atoll well within the Filipino exclusive economic zone.

Tensions between China and Japan have also escalated over competing claims to the Japanese-held Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea.

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