Defense pact with US to be signed Monday - DND

From InterAksyon (Apr 27): Defense pact with US to be signed Monday - DND

The Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation, more known as the pact for the increased rotational presence of US forces in the country, will be signed on Monday, the Department of National Defense confirmed Sunday.

However, DND information officer Prime Berunia, could not give any details about the agreement’s contents, nor would he comment on the impact it would have on the country’s security.

All Berunia would say is that the pact will be signed at 10 a.m. Monday at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Officers Club in Camp Aguinaldo by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg.

Monday is also the day US President Barack Obama arrives in the country for a two-day working visit.

New 10-year military pact, part of Asian pivot

The new security pact allows American forces an increased military presence in the Southeast Asian country now struggling to raise its defense capabilities amid territorial disputes with China.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation agreement will run for 10 years, shorter than what the United States was originally asking for, two senior government officials said on Sunday, asking for anonymity due to lack of authority to speak on details of the pact.

But the deal is renewable depending on the needs of the two oldest allies in the Asia-Pacific region, one of the sources said.

The agreement is a significant step in the United States' "pivot" to Asia as it disentangles itself from costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It comes as China has strengthened its maritime presence in disputed areas in the South China Sea after seizing control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012.

The pact will be signed just a few hours before U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Philippine President Benigno Aquino in Manila, as part of Obama's week-long tour of four Asian allies.

Ships, aircraft, troops rotated for longer periods

The agreement allows the United States to rotate ships, aircraft and troops for a period longer than the current maximum of two weeks during joint military exercises by the two nations, a senior military source told Reuters.

The United States is expected to gradually deploy combat ships, a squadron of F18s or F16s and maritime surveillance aircraft, the same source said.

Last year, there were 149 U.S. navy ship visits to the Philippines, up from 68 in the previous year, and that number is likely to rise further under the new pact.

"We are considering bases in Northern Luzon like Clark and Subic, and Fort Magsaysay, to accommodate the U.S. forces. We will set aside space in those bases for their troops," the military source said.

Clark and Subic were the two military bases maintained by the United States northwest of Manila until 1991, when the Philippine Senate voted to evict American troops. Eight years later, the Senate approved an agreement providing for temporary visits by U.S. forces, allowing the staging of joint military exercises.

The new military accord also allows the storage of U.S. humanitarian equipment and supplies for disaster response such as generators, water purifiers, fork lifts, tents and shelter materials, with some of these equipment already in the country and utilized after super Typhoon Haiyan devastated central Philippines in November, the military source also said.

Pio Lorenzo Batino, undersecretary of Defense and chair of the Philippine panel negotiating with the United States, earlier said the agreement complied with the Philippine Constitution, which meant U.S. forces will have no permanent presence and will not set up military bases.

But Philippine Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago had said she will scrutinize the pact, adding any agreement involving posting of troops and war equipment in another sovereign state becomes a treaty requiring Senate ratification, unless it was linked to an earlier treaty.

Palace reticent 

Until Sunday noon, Palace officials had been reluctant to confirm any signing, with Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma telling reporters they were still awaiting updates from the Philippine panel led by Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino. On Saturday, also briefing the press, Undersecretary Abigail Valte had said consultations were still ongoing between two sides.

Replying to reporters’ queries, Coloma said Sunday noon, speaking in Filipino, that, “we continue to await a communication from our Philippine panel. According to its head, Undersecretary Pio Batino of the Department of National Defense, until now they are still consulting with their US counterparts and will keep us posted accordingly.”

Coloma likewise declined to give details of the kind of access that Philippine authorities will give to the US in terms of military facilities.”Maybe it’s better for us to await the outcome of their talks, as we don’t have those details yet.”

Bayan slams ‘treachery’

Militant groups described as a “brazen display of treachery” the Aquino government’s move to sign Monday April 28 at 10am the agreement, just hours before the arrival of US President Barack Obama. “The signing is obviously a gift by the puppet president to his imperialist master. Aquino now gains the distinction of reversing all the gains of the Senate's removal of US bases from the country. The puppet president ushers in a new period of US military occupation, underscoring the status of the country as an American neo-colony,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said in a statement.

The militants shot down the “supposed assurance that the new pact will not lead to permanent US presence and basing,”  noting that US forces have already been permanently stationed in the country since 2002 under the Visiting Forces Agreement. The new accord “only makes the VFA worse because now, the permanently stationed US troops can access PH facilities, they can set up their own facilities and they can preposition their weapons and equipment here.” It said the new agreement also does not state how many troops can enter the country and how long they can remain here.
“The 10-year agreement is tailored to meet the US objective of moving 60% of its warships to Asia by 2020. Once the US forces establish a firmer foothold, they would seek to acquire more concessions for their basing.”

The group noted the calls from current and former senators and other legal luminaries who are all asserting that the new defense pact should pass Senate scrutiny and should not be treated as a mere executive agreement.

“We will continue to resist this new US violation of our sovereignty as we hold nationwide protests tomorrow in time for the visit of US imperialist chieftain Barack Obama. We call on patriotic Filipinos to defend our sovereignty from all forms of foreign intervention, whether in the form of US bases or China’s incursions in our waters.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/85552/defense-pact-with-us-to-be-signed-monday---dnd