PH, US Mutual Defense Board meets Tuesday as militants renew call vs informal basing

From InterAksyon (Oct 13): PH, US Mutual Defense Board meets Tuesday as militants renew call vs informal basing



Members of the militant group BAYAN picket the US Embassy in Manila in this June 12, 2014 file photo. BAYAN and several nationalist groups are raising a howl over the death of a Filipino, possibly at the hands of a US soldier whose ship is on port call at Subic.

High-ranking US and Philippine military officials will meet Tuesday on bilateral defense issues, in the shadow of a case that has given nationalist groups cause to revive calls to disallow American troops from the country: the death of a transgender, in a suspected homicide involving a US soldier.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines' public affairs chief, Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, said the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) meeting will focus on mutual security concerns to demonstrate increased bilateral commitment to the 63-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States, signed in 1951.

Among the key issues to be discussed are Mutual Defense, Maritime Security, Combating Terrorism, Philippine Defense Reform (PDR), Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HA/DR), Civil-military Operations (CMO), Peacekeeping (PKO), Transnational Crimes, and Cyber Security.

AFP Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. chairs the Philippine delegation. His counterpart and co-chairman is Admiral Samuel Locklear III, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM).

Also attending are the AFP Major Services Commanders; the Chief, Philippine National Police; the Commandant, Philippine Coast Guard; the Executive Director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACOM).

The VFA and the recently forged Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) had been the beef of nationalist groups, who said these two accords circumvent the people's will as manifested in the historic Senate vote of 1991 that ended the RP-US Bases Treaty.

On Monday, the groups revived their calls to scuttle EDCA, which they have questioned before the Supreme Court, after receiving news that police were investigating the death of 26-year-old Filipino transvestite "Jeffrey/Jenny" Laude, in a lodge in Olongapo City.
Initial investigation said Laude was last seen with a Caucasian man, and US authorities acknowledged on Monday that one US soldier assigned to a visiting US vessel was being detained on-ship in connection with Laude's death.

MDB meeting

Meanwhile, AFP's Cabunoc said other participants in Tuesday's MDB meeting include representatives from the Department of National Defense and Department of Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Commandant of the Philippine Marines and the Commander of the Special Operations Command, Philippine Army.

Both the Philippine and US delegation will seek to map out the direction of a bilateral defense partnership to sustain the dynamism and growth of the PH-US alliance and develop ways to ensure the continuing stability of the long-standing PH-U.S. strategic alliance, which has grown stronger through the years of steadfast cooperation in a rapidly changing global environment, said an AFP briefer.

Some of the expected major outputs of this year’s meeting will be the strategic direction for the bilateral engagement, the bilateral activities for year 2015, the five-year work plan in support of the PH-US Balikatan activities, revised Terms of Reference for the Standing Committees and its sub-committees to include changes in the memberships.

The Board Meeting, which implements the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States, is an affirmation of the long-standing defense cooperation between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States Military.

According to the AFP, the MDB-SEB meeting "signifies that the partnership between the US and the Republic of the Philippines remains robust, dynamic, and beneficial to both parties, and underscores the unrelenting commitment of both countries towards a more secure Asia-Pacific region."

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/97195/ph-us-mutual-defense-board-meets-tuesday-as-militants-renew-call-vs-informal-basing