‘MLSA does not need Senate ratification’

President Arroyo said an agreement between Manila and Washington which would give the US military access to local facilities anywhere in the country during joint exercises need not be ratified by the Senate.

Because the so-called Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement (MLSA) is just "an accounting arrangement" between the US and Philippine militaries and not a treaty, Mrs. Arroyo said Senate approval is unnecessary.

"It does not need Senate concurrence because it is not a basing agreement," Mrs. Arroyo said.

The President said the draft of the agreement seemed all right "in principle," although it would still be scrutinized by the Cabinet.

"The MLSA is not yet finalized," she said. "In principle, the MLSA is okay already. But we have to make sure that we have provisions that won’t be misconstrued that it would violate the Constitution."

Critics said the agreement effectively violates the constitutional ban on foreign bases in the country, which Malacañang denies.

"These construction of roads, school buildings and bridges (in Basilan during the Balikatan exercises) cannot refer to construction of permanent bases," Mrs. Arroyo said, referring to the infrastructures built by the US military in Mindanao.

In 1992 the US shut down its two large military bases in the Philippines when the Senate, in a historic vote, refused to extend the bases’ leases.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the MLSA was hammered out by Philippine Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Roy Cimatu and his US counterpart, Adm. Thomas Fargo, the commander of US forces in the Pacific.

He said the agreement was just an "accounting arrangement between the two military establishments."

Mrs. Arroyo said such an agreement would be used as a basis for an "accounting" of equipment, facilities and other assistance the US military would leave behind when the Balikatan joint exercises in the south winds up on July 31.

With that, the Philippine military will then have a concrete idea how much it will have to pay the US, either in cash or in kind, for the assistance.

A thousand US troops have been providing counter-terrorism training and other support for Philippine forces since February.

As part of Washington’s global war against terrorism, the US has also been helping Philippine troops hunt down the Abu Sayyaf, which had been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Saudi mastermind Osama bin Laden.

In an interview Tuesday night on ABS-CBN television, Mrs. Arroyo said the agreement would be examined carefully and not be rushed in time for US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit on August 2.

"The arrival of Secretary Colin Powell is not a deadline," she said.

Powell will embark on a seven-nation Asian swing for talks with US allies, including the Philippines, on countering terrorism.

Powell will meet with Mrs. Arroyo – who is concurrently the acting secretary of foreign affairs – to discuss regional security and other foreign policy issues.

Mrs. Arroyo was one of the few heads of state who threw their full support for the US-led war against terror launched shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last year.