Phl, US to sign pact on bilateral military drills

MANILA, Philippines - The militaries of the Philippines and the United States will sign next month an agreement that will enable them to conduct bilateral exercises next year.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Jessie Dellosa said the agreement would be inked with the US Pacific Command and will set the direction for the drills to be held in 2013.

“We are finalizing this and this December, there will be signing with the US Pacific Command,” Dellosa told reporters Thursday evening.

“(The agreement will be about the exercises next year and the activities to be conducted next year with the US forces,” he added.

The holding of joint military drills is part of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) signed by the US and the Philippines in 1951.

The treaty seeks to strengthen the efforts of US and the Philippines “for collective defense for the preservation of peace and security.”

Under the MDT, the two countries, separately or jointly, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attacks.

Among the joint military drills staged by the US and the Philippines are the Balikatan, Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training or CARAT and the annual Amphibious Landing Exercise or PHIBLEX.

Dellosa said the signing of agreements on military exercise is done every year. He said next month’s signing might be held in the AFP General Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Meanwhile, Dellosa said the controversy stirred by the alleged toxic waste dumping in Subic would not jeopardize the military exercises.

“(The exercises) will not be affected. The things we discussed about the exercises will be implemented next year with the signing,” the AFP chief said.

Dellosa said all concerns – including matters pertaining to the environment – would be addressed by participants of the exercises.

“Actually, environmental protection is part (of the discussions)… it is one of our priorities,” Dellosa said.

“They have to abide with our regulations and laws here in the Philippines,” he added.

Previous reports said the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) was probing the supposed dumping of toxic wastes in Subic by a tanker owned by Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a US Navy contractor.

Citing SBMA data, news reports said the wastes by the tanker MT Glenn Guardian came from US ships that participated in a recent military exercise.

An SBMA report was quoted as saying that the tanker was found carrying more than 189,000 liters of domestic waste and about 760 liters of a liquid composed of water, grease and oil.

The tanker reportedly dumped at least 37 kilometers from Subic Bay even if Glenn Defense Marine Asia did not have the permits to do so.

Glenn Defense Marine Asia denied the allegation and even questioned the quality of samples obtained by the SBMA.

Mateo Mayuga, chief executive officer of Glenn Defense Marine Philippines Inc., said most of their releases are 17 nautical miles from the shoreline, beyond the 12-nautical mile distance set by the Marine Pollution International Regulation.