Palace insists new bases pact an executive deal

From the Daily Tribune (Mar 18): Palace insists new bases pact an executive deal

The Palace insisted yesterday that the new rotational basing agreement or the Enhanced Defense Cooperation deal the Philippines and the United States governments agreed on will be “mere provisions” in treaties already ratified by the Senate and thus will constitute an executive arrangement.

The Senate, the other day, had stated it will have the last say on whether the agreement which will allow the sharing of local military bases with American forces would be an executive agreement or a new treaty adding that the agreement needed a Congressional review.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, however, said the new agreement builds on or implements the provisions of the Mutual Defense Treaty as well as the Visiting Forces Agreement, which are agreements already ratified by the Senate.

“So in the view of the Executive branch, these are merely provisions which implement both treaties, which have already been previously ratified by the Senate,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the new agreement was crafted partly because of the current territorial conflicts in the region. The Philippines is currently in a deadlock with China on overlapping claims over South China Sea.

“Does this help in terms of the rotational presence of the Americans? Certainly, it would help,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said benefits to the country from the agreement includes technology transfer and knowledge sharing between American and Philippine forces during the conduct of military exercises.

“It improves the quality of the Philippines in terms of preparedness,” Lacierda added.
Lacierda downplayed legal questions that may arise from the agreement that would be concentrated in the strategic coasts of Mindanao, Ulugan Bay in the west coast of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, facing the Spratly group of islands, in the port of Subic and Cebu.

“Well, again, the details of the agreement have not been completed yet and, therefore, any concerns about whether it’s permanent bases, certainly, it is not,” Lacierda said.

“(The agreement) only provides (American forces) access. We are very cognizant of the limitations imposed by the Constitution and other applicable laws,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the Philippine panel is working within the legal parameters on the agreement and that there should be no issue with permanent basing of foreign troops.

He said there are still some talks between the RP-and US panels scheduled over the details of the agreement and other substantive issues with the Americans.

“So let’s wait until the agreement is finalized,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda admitted there was some disagreements as to the interpretations of the existence of the new RP-US agreement as to whether it would have to pass the ratification of the Senate to be valid.

Lacierda cited as an analogy for the agreement the pet project of Aquino which is the comprehensive peace agreement that seeks to create the Bangsamoro substate.

”I am certain, like what we did with the Bangsamoro annexes, the agreement will be provided the Senate,” he added.

“As to whether it would require confirmation, well, at least both sides have already stated their positions, so let’s wait for the agreement, and see whether there should be a need for ratification,” Lacierda said.

“I think maybe that fear of a head-on clash (between the Executive and the Legislative) is something that we have not reached that point yet, precisely because the details have not been completed,” Lacierda said.

He said that until such time that they have the agreement already, “then we will see, but we have not seen the language of the agreement yet”.

“But we are very, very cognizant of the applicable laws and of the Constitution,” Lacierda said.

A former partylist representative of Partido ng Manggagawa, Renato Magtubo, meanwhile, slammed the leadership of the House of Representatives for prematurely endorsing an illegal and dangerous military bases pact being cooked up by Malacañang and the White House.

The new security deal would allow the US free access and use of Philippine bases particularly in Manila, Clark, Palawan, Cebu, Nueva Ecija and La Union.

Defense Undersecretary Pio Batino who headed the Philippines’ negotiating panel explained earlier that the agreement does not violate the Constitution.  There is also no need for this to be ratified by the Senate because it is just an implementing document of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

House leaders Deputy Speaker and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao and Deputy Majority Leader Sherwin Tugna on their part welcomed this news as they approve the concept of “rotational presence” of American troops in the country.

But in a statement Magtubo said, “The new pact, from  whatever model it shall be patterned, is aimed at getting around the constitutional ban on the presence of foreign troops in the country, the same way the VFA was framed under the guise of joint military exercises to justify temporary presence of American troops in the country.”

Magtubo pointed out that under the new deal, the Philippines does not just welcome the US forces as “visitors” but accepts them as a conjugal operator of its facilities under the veil of “rotational presence”.

He insisted that instead of giving a blanket approval, Congress should forewarn the Executive about the dangers in executing a kind of agreement that would clearly undermine the Constitution, otherwise they both fall under suspicion of plotting to bring this country back to the era of cold war where a weak country is forced to side with either of the contending global powers.

Magtubo argued further that giving the US forces unlimited access and free use of our facilities to serve as deterrent to China is in fact the weakest security argument of this pact, saying China is not blind to the mighty land, air, and naval powers the US had in the Pacific.
“So what do we gain from showing to China that we have a 24/7 US soldiers in our soil?  Nothing, we are just giving China “the bully” more reasons to believe that the Philippines exercises no sovereignty and independent foreign policy and thus may be a worrisome play pawn by the US,” said Magtubo.

Partido ng Manggagawa is advocating a negotiated solution to the disputed claims over the group of islands in the West Philippine Sea or the South China Sea.

Magtubo said disputed islands are better left for common use and development of all claimants rather than making them springboards to a senseless war.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/palace-insists-new-bases-pact-an-executive-deal