No base within Phl base for US – AFP

MANILA, Philippines - The government has agreed to allow the United States access to Philippine military bases under a new deal seeking to boost bilateral security cooperation.

Officials stressed the locations to be provided to the US troops would not be exclusive to them and would be used to obtain mutual benefits for the two armed forces.

“It would be a requirement that the presence of US troops would be temporary. So with these characteristics, we can say that this won’t be a base within a base,” Defense Undersecretary Pio Batino, chairman of the Philippine panel negotiating the defense cooperation deal with the US, said yesterday.

Philippine officials have given assurance that a new deal on enhanced defense cooperation would comply with the Constitution and existing laws.

Eduardo Malaya, a member of the Philippine negotiating panel, pointed out that the areas to be shared with the US are within the Philippine military’s bases.

When asked whether American troops could reject access of Filipino representatives to US facilities, Malaya said it would not be possible.

“This (facility) is within a Philippine base. There are no extraterritorial features, there is no exclusivity feature. And Philippine law prevails there,” he said.

Batino said Philippine access to US facilities, on the other hand, has always been their “primordial concern.”

“Although we know the fluidity that characterizes these negotiations, it’s safe to say that there will be language that will provide that Philippine authorities will have access to areas provided to the US armed forces,” Batino said.

Malaya said both panels have reached an agreement that both militaries will have joint access.

“As a concept, access is assured, this being within Philippine military bases and also the right of the base commander to have access to specific area will be shared with them has already been agreed in principle by both panels,” he added.

Malaya, however, admitted the access would be “subject to safety, operational safety and security requirements.”

“We are discussing some operational safety and security requirements with respect to the exercise of access by the base commander but please note this pertains to safety and security,” he said.

The requirement would not cover the exercise of police power by the Philippines over a US personnel suspected of breaking the law, Malaya stressed.

The access of Philippine authorities to US facilities has been a key issue in the negotiation now in its final stages.

The new security deal is being negotiated by the two allies, amid mounting concern over China’s increasing assertiveness in the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Talks on a proposed deal on enhanced defense cooperation between Manila and Washington hit an impasse late last year due to the failure of both sides to reach a consensus on American facilities to be set up in the country.

The presence of US forces is a controversial issue in the Philippines, with activists claiming that a deal on increased rotational presence would violate the country’s sovereignty.

The Senate voted to close the US bases in the country in 1991 but a visiting forces agreement allowing joint drills between Filipino and American soldiers was ratified eight years later.

Welcome

The Philippines would welcome the return of a US military presence to deter China’s ambitions in the South China Sea, and to help provide humanitarian assistance during natural disasters.

“It will not stop China from its bullying tactics, but it will become more cautious and might exercise self-restraint due to the US presence,” said Rommel Banlaoi, an analyst at Philippine Institute of Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research.

“The Philippines will also benefit from more exercises and more assistance from the US and it will elevate the Philippines to a major non-NATO ally in the Pacific.”

Friction between China and the Philippines and other states in the region, over disputed territories in the South China Sea has increased since last year despite diplomatic efforts to forge an agreement on maritime conduct.

The dispute revolves around competing claims over the Spratlys, a group of 250 uninhabitable islets spread over 165,000 square miles.

On Sunday, three Chinese coast guard ships stopped two Filipino civilian vessels from delivering food, water and construction materials to troops based on a ship that was deliberately run aground on a reef in the Spratlys in 1999 to reinforce the Philippines’ claim.

Manila called the Chinese actions “a clear and urgent threat to the rights and interests of the Philippines.”

No timetable

Under the draft accord, the Philippines will allow US forces joint use of facilities in several military bases like in Manila, Clark, Palawan, Cebu, Nueva Ecija, and La Union.

“We are only offering US military forces access to fewer military bases,” Malaya said.

Manila refused a request for use of civilian airfields and ports, like Subic Freeport Bay, Laoag and Davao international airports, according to the official.

There have been speculations that the deal on enhanced defense cooperation will be signed during the visit of US President Barack Obama next month.

Philippine negotiators, however, could not provide a timetable for the completion of the negotiations, which started last August.

“If the negotiations are successfully concluded and that happens before the arrival of President Obama, then we will be happy of course. But at the same time we are aware that these types of negotiations do take time,” said Philippine panel member Lourdes Yparaguirre.

“It is in the interest of both sides, the Philippines as well as the US, that the negotiations proceed at a deliberate pace, ensuring clarity and full understanding of the relevant issues and ensuring and producing an outcome that is desirable and an agreement that is mutually beneficial,” she said.

The Philippines presented its own version of a draft agreement during the fifth round of talks last January.

Batino admitted that the Philippines had no such draft during the first four rounds of talks.

“Once we had finished all the discussions, all the conceptual discussions, it was decided, that it will be best for us to (place) in one single document all the requirements that we have discussed with the US,” he said.

Malaya revealed the Philippine draft included a provision requiring a review of the agreement every five years.

“We also included the right of the base commander and environmental protection and some opportunities for Philippines suppliers of services, goods,” he said.

Batino added the agreement does not need to be ratified by the Senate because it is just an implementing document of the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The seventh round of negotiations on the enhanced defense cooperation deal will be held this month.