'Increased access' plan will benefit PH, says Manila's envoy to US

From InterAksyon (Jul 8): 'Increased access' plan will benefit PH, says Manila's envoy to US

The controversial but still-undefined plan to allow “increased access to Philippine bases” for military forces of the United States and allies like Japan will benefit the country, the Philippine ambassador to the US said Monday.

In an ambush interview, Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia Jr. asserted that among the benefits also is an enhancement of the Philippines’ security cooperation with the US as it carries out its “rebalance” strategy, or shifting more of its military muscle to the Asia Pacific, where some US officials have cited a need to counter China’s growing political, economic and military projection.

The Philippines is one of the countries most affected by Beijing’s projection, given the steady buildup of its maritime presence in the South China Sea, where it claims the Spratlys island chain entirely. The Philippines, three other ASEAN members, and Taiwan also claim the resource-rich island group in whole or in part.

“We are hoping to get more assistance from the United States in terms of military security assistance… we are not going into it [such agreement] if it will not benefit the Philippines. It has to be beneficial to both the US and the PH,” Cuisia said at the sidelines of the press conference for the Filipino American Youth Leadership Program in Manila.

Bilateral strategic dialogue

The still-sketchy plan to allow greater access to military forces of the US, and even Japan, to so-called “Philippine bases” was revealed recently by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

Asked if there are any other bases—Subic Bay so far is the one most mentioned in reports-- that will be open for access to the United States, Cuisia refused to disclose anything yet.

“We are still discussing it. This is a part of our bilateral strategic dialogue every year for the last two years. We have had three dialogues in the past,” he said.

According to Cuisia, there is no fixed timeline for the increased access, as the Philippines has allowed allied countries access to Subic, especially. Subic, which used to host the largest US naval base outside the US mainland, is located in Zambales, where Chinese and Philippine troops had a standoff in April 2012 after Chinese military vessels blocked a Philippine Navy team from apprehending Chinese poachers in Panatag Shoal, off Masinloc town.

With greater access to US forces, Manila is expected to have “greater interoperability” such as “more training and more exercises,” Cuisia added.

Subic, the sprawling former US base until 1991 when an extension of the US-RP Military Bases Treaty was defeated in the Senate, has seen a steady influx of various US ships the past year.

The place could be ideal for training as the AFP modernization program gets into high gear between now and 2016 and the Philippine military acquires more air and sea assets. “It will definitely contribute to our armed forces, our navy, our air force and so on,” Cuisia pointed out.

Agreement will fall under VFA

Meanwhile, the envoy also clarified that an agreement on the increased access to bases will fall under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), and not the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) that has sometimes been invoked in Manila’s long-running word war with Beijing over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

The VFA between Manila and Washington allows only a “temporary stay” of US forces in the country.

Still, Cuisia stressed, any agreement regarding the naval base “is going to be in line with our Constitution.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/65868/increased-access-plan-will-benefit-ph-says-manilas-envoy-to-us