U.S. access at Subic Bay needed no Senate ratification – Escudero

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 28): U.S. access at Subic Bay needed no Senate ratification – Escudero

Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Friday said the reported plan of the government to give the United States air and naval forces access at Subic Bay needed no ratification by the Philippine Senate.

”I don’t think so,” Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice, replied when asked if the U.S. access at Subic Bay, a former U.S. military base, should be ratified first by the Senate.

”Only treaties need to be ratified by the Senate. Foreign policy and relations are still primarily within the domain of the Executive Branch,” Escudero explained.

Escudero, however, clarified the Executive Branch should get the opinion not only of the Senate but by key stakeholders “in order for things to flow more smoothly.”

”It’s always better to get the consensus or at least opinion of the Senate and key stakeholders,” he said.

Escudero drew support from outgoing Senator Panfilo Lacson and resigned Senate majority leader Vicente Sotto III.

”If only for the sake of inter-departmental courtesy, they should consult the Senate, not necessarily to get its approval,” Lacson said.

”If there is plan outside the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement), Senate should scrutinize it,” Sotto, for his part, said.

Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan II believed the U.S. access to Subic is a violation of the Constitution.

”But if our national interest and society are at stake, we have limited choices because we are still a developing country at the mercy of an dependent on powers like the U.S.,” Honasan, a former military colonel, said.

The U.S. Naval Base in Subic Bay was closed in 1991 after the Senate rejected to ratify the extension of Treaty of Friendship, Peace and Cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines that was approved in 1947.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=539013