Wednesday, August 14, 2013

PH, US begin talks on bases access

From Rappler (Aug 14): PH, US begin talks on bases access

TALKS BEGIN: Philippines and US panel members start first round of negotiations on increasing presence of US troops. DND photo

TALKS BEGIN: Philippines and US panel members start first round of negotiations on increasing presence of US troops. DND photo

Rival factions of the Philippine Left echo each other in opposing a plan to increase the rotational presence of US troops in the country and allow them to deploy aircraft and ships for disaster and maritime security operations.

But a popular government has thrown its full support behind this in the wake of China's aggressive behavior over disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

The Philippines and US panels hold the first round of closed-door talks on Wednesday, August 14, at Camp Aguinaldo to thresh out the details of the new executive agreement. It means Senate approval is not required. They aim to finish the framework within the year.

"We begin our negotiation... with the end in view of coming out with a framework that will further enhance our existing robust defense relations, so I exhort both panels to remain candid and frank so that the outcome of this undertaking will redound to the best interest of our two countries," said defense undersecretary for defense affairs Honorio Azcueta in his opening statement.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr have been supportive of the talks as long as the plan will not violate the Constitution and the Visiting Forces Agreement, the treaty that the Senate ratified to govern the presence of foreign troops in the Philippines.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Carlos Sorreta, head of the Philippine panel, reiterated this. “We would like to assure the Filipino people that your government is committed to defending and protecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said in a statement.

Political activists said the Aquino government is wrong to think that the US will fight with the Philippines against China in case of armed conflict. While the Philippines is quick to surrender its sovereignty, the sole preoccupation of the US is to advance its own agenda, they said.

READ: [Asia Pacific Bulletin] PH's security cooperation with US, Japan

STOP US INTERVENTION: Militant groups troop to the Armed Forces headquarters to protest increased presence of US troops. Photo by Carmela Fonbuena/Rappler.com

STOP US INTERVENTION: Militant groups troop to the Armed Forces headquarters to protest increased presence of US troops. Photo by Carmela Fonbuena/Rappler.com

"Bayan is opposed to any Chinese incursion or occupation of our islands in the West Philippine Sea but bringing in the US as part of the conflict will not be in the service of our national interest. It would further complicate the dispute. It is an invitation for further escalation of confrontation in the West Philippine Sea," Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes told reporters on Tuesday, August 13.

"The US has huge debts to the Chinese government. How can we expect the US to defend us when their economy is closely tied up to the economy of China," he added.

Reyes led a group of about 30 militants who staged a protest at Camp Aguinaldo, headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to show their opposition to the talks.

In the House of Representatives, Akbayan Rep Walden Bello issued a statement sharing Bayan's position and calling the talks a "pact with the devil."

“It is the height of irony that in our collective campaign to secure our sovereignty against China and other foreign aggressors, the very same sovereignty that we try to protect would be the first casualty,” Bello said.

READ: PH, US start talks on bases access Wednesday



 
The Philippine and the US have agreed to conduct "high-value and high impact exercises as modality for increased rotational presence." This means more bilateral exercises, "prepositioning of equipment, and development of Philippine facilities, Gazmin added.

For Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario, this means military modernization can begin before the the Armed Forces acquires its own modern equipment.

"Maritime security and maritime domain awareness will be given a boost even before we have ships and aircraft we need. And even before we have the advanced and sophisticated hardware we wish for we will know how to operate and maintain them," Del Rosario said on Monday's press conference.

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is finalizing plans to purchase 12 fighter aircraft from Korea. On top of the two Hamilton-class cutters from the U.S. and the naval helicopters that will arrive in December, the Philippine Navy is also planning to acquire 2 new frigates and possibly a third Hamilton-class cutter.

Aside from Sorreta, the Philippine panel members are Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III and Defense Assistant Secretary Raymund Quilop.

The US panel members are US Department of State Ambassador and Senior Advisor for Security Negotiations and Agreements of Political-Military Affairs Eric John, US Department of State Attorney Advisor Elizabeth Jones, US Department of Defense Brigadier General Joaquin Malavet, and Deputy Legal Counsel of the Office of the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Captain Greg Bart.

How about drones?

Long before these talks, US troops have been in and out of the country, specifically in Mindanao. A US military task force holds office at the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City, while the US military has a little-known office right inside Camp Aguinaldo.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte divulged that the US government previously talked to him about plans to use his city as a launching pad for unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to pursue its campaign against terrorism.

"The US government wanted to use the old airport. I refused. I will not allow them to use our airport for them to launch their drones," Duterte said.

READ: Duterte says no to drones

A New York Times article, "The Drone Zone," alleged that the US conducted lethal drone operations in the Philippines. It was immediately denied by US military officers, Filipino intelligence officials and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

They said drones are used in the Philippines only for surveillance.

In an exclusive report citing intelligence sources worldwide, Rappler executive editor Maria Ressa detailed in a 2012 report how a team of US and Filipino soldiers used drones to spy on an Abu Sayyaf camp in Sulu.


Diplomacy

Reyes warned that the new agreement would allow the US to turn the Philippines as its launching pad for drones and weapons for mass destruction by the US.

"Our country is transformed into one big military facility or depot for foreign troops and weapons. It is no longer consistent with our constitution and it is no longer consistent with national interest," said Reyes.

Reyes and Bello pushed for diplomatic means to resolve the dispute with China.


"The only option left for the Philippines is to aggressively pursue our claims through all diplomatic means and to be self-reliant in building its own credible defense posture and not to rely on the US and not to be dragged in the US agenda in the Asia Pacific."

Bello enumerated 3 alternative approaches.

One, "promotion of the demilitarization of the Western Pacific". Two, "pushing states to prioritize diplomatic solutions and multilateral fora to solve territorial disputes instead of resorting to force, in the same manner that the Philippine government brought up its dispute with China for adjudication with the United Nations' International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas." And three, "forceful citizen diplomacy for peace."

1 comment:

  1. The commies are like ostriches with their heads buried in the sand. They talk about Philippine sovereignty and peaceful negotiations with the Chinese, while China laughs, thumbs its nose at them, and aggressively occupies more and more of Philippine claimed territory. They deny the true nature of increased Chinese military aggressiveness in the South China Sea and the need for a mutual defense relationship with a strong ally.

    BAYAN (Bagong Alyansand Makabyan--New Patriotic Alliance) is a Communist Party of the Philippines umbrella front organization and Renato Reyes is a long-time CPP activist. These quasi-Maoist front groups have consistently opposed any US military presence in the Philippines.

    Akbayan is a breakaway Marxist-Leninist-Socialist organization whose leaders split from the Maoist CPP back in the mid-to-late 1990s. Walden Bello is a long-time opponent of the US military presence in the Philippines and Asia as whole. Bello headed up a think tank, Focus on the Global South, based at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, that produced several lengthy studies that were nothing more than scathing propaganda attacks against the US military presence in the Philippines.

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