By Paul Atienza
The Daily Tribune
The Daily Tribune
‘TYPICAL TEMPORARY US BASING AGREEMENT’
Temporary stay of American forces in the country was defined as a period of up to 20 years, a foreign affairs department official said yesterday as the Philippine and the US panels divulged the results of talks on a wider US military footprint in Asia.
The negotiations aim to allow more US troops, ships, aircraft and other equipment to pass through the Philippines which had hosted tens of thousands of US troops until 1992.
Temporary visits of US military forces are allowed under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) but the span of the stay of foreign troops is only for the duration of regular military drills.
The Aquino administration had insisted that the new military arrangement with the United States government is covered under the VFA but legislators had indicated that the prolonged stay of American troops may need a new treaty.
“For the Americans, they typically have agreements like these that have a duration of 20 years. Right now, the Philippine delegation is looking at a much shorter duration,” negotiator Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Carlos Sorreta said in statement.
He gave no specific time frame for the Philippine counter-proposal, with the statement adding the “substantive issue of duration” would be “subject to further discussion.”
Asked to confirm if the US negotiators had proposed a 20-year agreement with the Philippines, American embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer declined to comment. Sorreta did not answer his phone when contacted by AFP.
The Philippines earlier said the proposed framework had been tabled by the United States as the talks began in Manila in mid-August.
Specific time frames were absent in the agreed minutes of the August 29 meeting in Washington, a copy of which the Philippine foreign department released to the press Saturday with Sorreta’s statement.
“The sides continued discussions, and made significant progress on… Article XIII (Entry into Force, Duration, Termination, and Amendment),” the minutes said.
It said the US would host the next round of talks in the second week of September.
Philippine officials have said an increased US presence was part of Manila’s efforts to build a credible defence posture as it faces territorial disputes at sea with China.
Manila accuses China of aggressively pushing its territorial claims over most of the South China Sea, including waters close to Philippine shores.
The United States, meanwhile, wants arrangements similar to what it has with Australia and Singapore as it seeks to bolster its ties across Southeast Asia, partly to counter China’s growing military power.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a visit to Manila on Friday that the two allies were moving towards an agreement, while stressing that Washington was not seeking to build permanent bases.
The United States once held Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base but was forced to hand them back in 1992 amid growing anti-US sentiment and a rental dispute.
The United States once held Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base but was forced to hand them back in 1992 amid growing anti-US sentiment and a rental dispute.
A new accord in 1999 allowed troops to return to the Philippines for joint military exercises every year.
Several hundred US Special Forces troops are also on short-term assignments at Philippine bases in the south, where they train and advise local troops fighting Islamic militants.
Several hundred US Special Forces troops are also on short-term assignments at Philippine bases in the south, where they train and advise local troops fighting Islamic militants.
Presidential deputy spokesman Abigail Valte Hagel described Hagel’s visit as having “no other aim but to further boost the US campaign to project its power and strengthen its military foothold in the Asia-Pacific region.”
“Beyond already the role that they are currently playing in the region, we are not certain in the future,” she said.
“It was in the words of the Secretary of Defense of the United States, you know, the world shifts, relationships change, dyanmics tend to reposition themselves,” Valte said.
“Let us not dwell on the hypothetical, and it’s better to really go by what the statements have been, as well as the actions,” Valte said.
Hagel met with Aquino in Malacañang to further discuss the so-called framework agreement presently being forged in negotiations held in Washington.
The framework agreement which is set to be completed in the next few weeks will virtually bring back US basing rights, allow the US to use the Philippines as a vast military outpost, raise the number of US troops in the Philippines and increase the frequency of US troop rotation.
The US wants to forge an agreement similar to what it has with Singapore where the US Navy is allowed to deploy and operate resupply vessels.
The US Navy is also allowed to use a naval base, a ship repair facility and an airfield.
The US maintains permanent presence of US fighter jet squadrons of which are rotated a month at a time.
It also uses Singapore as a logistics coordinating center for its Pacific command.
It also uses Singapore as a logistics coordinating center for its Pacific command.
Other cause oriented groups claimed that the Philippine sovereignty is trampled when the US military is allowed to deploy and operate its own equipment, to have unlimited access to air and seaport facilities, operate surveillance equipment, launch and deploy military drones for intelligence and combat, dock its nuclear-capable warships and to land and launch its fighter jets and set up military command posts.
A Department of National Defense (DND) who is part of the Philippine panel in the ongoing negotiations insisted the increased rotational presence (IRP) of American troops and equipment in Philippine military facilities will be temporary and comply with the country’s Constitution.
Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, head negotiator of the Philippine panel added that both sides also agreed in the second round of negotiations held at the US Department of Defense in the Pentagon in Washington D.C. that joint exercises and activities under a framework agreement will require the approval of the Philippines and will be mutually beneficial to the individual and collective defense capabilities of the two countries in furtherance of Article II of the Mutual Defense Treaty.
“Both the Philippines and the US panels share the understanding that the American troops will not establish a permanent military presence in our country. That was clear during the discussion,” Batino said.
“From the beginning of the talks, we communicated to our counterparts that they could not establish a permanent presence in the Philippines in accordance with our Constitution,” he added.
In the agreed minutes released by the panels, it said that all the access to and use of military facilities and areas by the US will be at the invitation of the Philippine government.
“Where and what can be prepositioned will be subject to prior approval by the Philippine government and based on mutuality of interest. Any approval will contain specific areas and time for the temporary activity,” explained Department Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Carlos Sorreta, panel spokesperson.
During the talks, Sorreta said, the two teams of negotiators were able to establish “specific understandings” on the following: facilities used for prepositioning remain the property of the Philippines; the Philippines maintains the primary responsibility and authority in matters of security; any prepositioning or activities will not violate Philippine environmental laws; any construction will have to be removed by the US once the approved activity is completed; and stronger language on non-prepositioning of prohibited weapons.
Sorreta said the Philippines and the US were able to flesh out some details on humanitarian aid and disaster relief, including discussions on how training, equipment and materiel for maritime domain awareness would be used for HADR efforts.
A number of provisions in the proposed framework agreement, however, are subject to further discussion, including the substantive issue of duration, he said.
The Philippines and the US began last Aug. 14 the negotiations on a framework agreement on the IRP, an arrangement that will help the country achieve a minimum credible defense amid territorial threats and bolster plans to modernize the armed forces.
Based on the agreed minutes released after the negotiations, the next round of talks will be held in the second week of September in the US.
The Philippine panel is composed of Batino, Sorreta, Department of Justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan III and Defense Assistant Secretary Raymund Quilop.
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