STATEMENT | PH Senate should probe Subic base lease agreement - Bayan

From InterAksyon (Jul 19): STATEMENT | PH Senate should probe Subic base lease agreement - Bayan



USS Peleliu at Subic. US NAVY PHOTO

The move by the Aquino government to reopen Subic as a naval base should be promptly investigated by the Philippine Senate.

The lease agreement between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority may just be the first step in implementing the PH-US Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement in the former US base.

Under EDCA, the US is allowed use of existing Philippine military facilities which will be known as “agreed locations.”

For the US to be able to fully use Subic for basing and other purposes, there has to be an established Philippine military facility there. The reopening of Subic, allegedly for Philippine military use, is only the first step in allowing the return of de facto US bases in Olongapo.

Going around the constitutional ban

The move is clearly a circumvention of the existing constitutional ban of foreign bases absent a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate.

The Philippine Senate itself, in a resolution passed by at least 13 senators, does not recognize EDCA as a valid international agreement since it did not get Senate concurrence. This is also the bone of contention in petition filed by Bayan et al before the Supreme Court; that the EDCA seeks to reestablish de facto US bases in the Philippines even without a valid basing agreement. The petitions remain pending before the SC.

Given the recent developments in the West Philippine Sea and given the US strategic pivot to Asia, it is very unlikely that the use of the new Subic naval base will be limited to just Philippine troops and ships. The US already regularly uses Subic for refueling and maintenance work. A subsidiary of Huntington-Ingalls, the biggest military ship builder in the US, already operates a facility in Subic in partnership with Hanjin Industries.

The new naval base will thus allow the US Pacific Command to station its ships and troops for longer periods in the Subic. The US will get the same benefits as having a formal base, even if the base is nominally under the Philippines. The US also saves money because it will be the Philippines who will be spending for the Subic base. Subic will once again be a US outpost used for intervention in the region. It carry the burden of hosting an increasing number of US troops, along with the social and environmental costs of such presence.

The Senate must investigate the 15-year lease agreement between in the AFP and SBMA and analyze this within the context of the EDCA and the US pivot. The Filipino people must protest this circumvention of the constitution and violation of our sovereignty.

It is right for the Philippines to stand up against China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea. It is wrong however to allow another power to violate our sovereignty by allowing them de facto basing rights in our country and subject our people to the burdens and indignities of hosting foreign bases. 

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/114461/statement--ph-senate-should-probe-subic-base-lease-agreement---bayan