Cruz sent to US for Balikatan TOR

President Arroyo said yesterday she was sending her chief legal counsel to the United States to finalize ground rules for US troops joining counter-terror exercises in the troubled south later this year.

In a statement from Seoul where she is on a state visit, Mrs. Arroyo said she has decided that the final "terms of reference" (TOR) governing the exercises called Balikatan 03-1 would "be given a final review by my office."

"I am sending the chief presidential legal counsel to the US to thresh out the remaining issues with the American government," Mrs. Arroyo said. "He will work in close consultation with our defense and foreign affairs authorities."

The President stressed her "clear guidelines" to ensure the ground rules would not violate the Constitution, which bars foreign combatants on Philippine soil.

Mrs. Arroyo did not set a date of departure for Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz.

The proposed exercises, to begin in the second half of the year in the south, seek to help the ill-equipped Philippine military crush the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group wanted for kidnapping and murdering Filipinos and foreigners in recent years.

About 1,000 US troops were deployed in Mindanao for a similar operation in 2002, but they were prohibited from joining actual combat patrols.

US forces, however, helped their Filipino counterparts track the Abu Sayyaf, leading to the rescue of American missionary Gracia Burnham and the death of senior rebel leader Abu Sabaya.

Gracia Burnham was one of three US citizens and a group of Filipinos abducted from a beach resort in May 2001. Her husband, Martin Burnham died in the rescue, while Guillermo Sobero of California was beheaded shortly after the kidnapping.

Nationalist groups and some politicians have warned that US help could be a prelude to Washington’s re-establishing a foothold in Asia with its presence in the Philippines, a former colony and site of two strategic American bases shut down more than a decade ago.

Mrs. Arroyo warned Tuesday, however, that the public should not "inject ideological undertones to this issue."

Her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the President’s decision to take over the drafting of the TOR for Balikatan 03-1 was in no way an indication that she was not pleased with the work being done by the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines on it.

"There have been questions on the implications of Balikatan 03-1 and the President would like to settle these issues once and for all," Bunye said.

"It’s very important that this document be reviewed and once this is reviewed to the satisfaction of the Philippine representative, then we could possibly go ahead with the signing and after that the actual Balikatan would take place," he added.

Bunye said the TOR for this year’s military exercises was still a "work in progress" because of some "sticky points," but the bottomline was that as with last year’s TOR for the war games on Basilan, it should be consistent with the Constitution.

"Our Constitution prohibits any permanent bases. So any arrangement that will lead to that will not be allowed by the President," he said.

US President George W. Bush last month promoted the Philippines into a full-military ally for Mrs. Arroyo’s support for his government’s global campaign against terror.

Mrs. Arroyo later said the United States had promised $356 million in security-related assistance, with $47 million allocated to the Balikatan exercises this year. — AFP, Marichu Villanueva