MANILA, Philippines — The proposed Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan is as good as ratified for Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, who cited the importance of joint military drills – as provided for under the deal – to amplify the shared commitment of Japan and the Philippines to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Zubiri made the promise in an ambush interview at the House of Representatives, where visiting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressed the Philippine legislature in joint session.
The Senate, tasked under the 1987 Constitution to ratify the country’s treaties, will deliver the required 16 votes or two thirds majority in the chamber to get the RAA approved, according to Zubiri.
The deal would be Japan’s first with a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the third this year after similar pacts with Australia and Britain took effect, Kyodo News earlier reported.
The Philippines is entering into security deals with defense allies amid China’s increasing aggression in the South China Sea.
“We are ready in the Senate to tackle the RAA. I believe we have more than 16 votes to ratify the RAA,” Zubiri told reporters.
He expressed confidence that Japanese troops would not violate the RAA and commit abuses, like in the case of rape and murder of am Filipino transgender by two American soldiers deployed in the country under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US.
US Marine Lance Corporals Daniel Smith and Joseph Scott Pemberton were arrested for rape and murder of Jennifer Laude in 2014.
Smith was convicted in a lower court but was acquitted by the Court of Appeals. Pemberton was convicted of homicide but was given absolute pardon by then president Rodrigo Duterte six years later.
“The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are very disciplined… I doubt it would be a big issue,” Zubiri said. “We will have guidelines in the RAA for the Japanese to follow the rule of law in the Philippines that should not be abused, and for Filipinos to also follow the rule of law in Japan. The RAA will not be one-sided,” he added.
“We also saw with the VFA that there had only been two major violations of the agreement, and it’s been 30 years since we approved the VFA,” he added.
Zubiri thanked the Japanese Prime Minister for accepting his personal invitation to address the Philippine Congress. Zubiri made the invitation in April during a parliamentary visit to Japan.
“This is historic. This is the first time in almost two decades, the last time was done in 2006,” Zubiri said, referring to the special joint session held in February 2006 to receive then Indian President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam.
Congress also convened in joint session for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in April 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao in April of the same year, US President George W. Bush in October 2003 and US President Dwight Eisenhower in June 1960.
Before Kishida, the highest Japanese official to deliver a speech in Manila was former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda in 1977.
“We saw here that Japan is the best friend of the Philippines. The Japanese people are close to our hearts,” Zubiri said.
Painful memories
Kishida’s visit however brought back memories of the Japanese military’s sexual abuse of women in the Philippines during World War II.
A group calling for reparations for the Filipino wartime sex slaves called “comfort women” expressed alarm at the Philippines’ adoption of an RAA with Japan, even while it has yet to comply with the recommendations of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women to provide reparations to the surviving sexual slavery victims after decades of neglecting the issue.
In the historic decision released in time for International Women’s Day last March 8, the UN committee found that the Philippines failed to fulfill its obligations under the convention to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women when it failed to protect the surviving comfort women, now in their 90s.
“We are concerned about the seeming haste with which Japan is pushing the adoption of the ‘mutual access’ agreement, while completely ignoring the pleas of the victims and their families for an official public apology, reparations and inclusion of the ‘comfort women’ narrative in history teachings,” Flowers For Lolas Campaign lead convenor Teresita Ang See said.
“In truth, the Japanese government has embarked, through the years, on a campaign of historical revision, aimed at erasing the memory of its wartime atrocities in the minds of the public,” she added.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the enhanced security cooperation between Japan and the Philippines is not in response to any external threat, but is meant only to improve the country’s resilience and capacity.
Press Secretary Maki Kobayashi said Japan’s provision of defense-related equipment to the Philippines through its newly launched Official Security Assistance (OSA) and the RAA only aims to help the country situated “in a very important sea lane.”
“We consider that it (increased security ties between Manila and Tokyo) is important to increase resilience, increase capacity because the Philippines is situated in a very important sea lane, not only for us but for the region and for the international community,” she said, citing the “extensive export and import and all the navigation going around in this region.”
The Philippines is the first recipient of Japan’s OSA. More than $5 trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea every year.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, which is believed to hold large reserves of oil and natural gas. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have overlapping claims to parts of it.
“In February, we agreed to (allow) Japan defense forces to come to the Philippines… for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. So, that was one way,” Kobayashi said.
“And this RAA, when Philippine forces is visiting Japan, and when Japanese defense forces is visiting the Philippines for training and exercises, we decide in advance how we can facilitate all procedures so that each time you don’t have to have a lengthy procedure for clearing the authorities,” she said.
Kobayashi, meanwhile, declined to comment when asked whether the RAA would include joint military exercises similar to the Balikatan exercises between the US and the Philippines, as well as access to military bases.
Kobayashi also renewed the Japanese government’s support for the Philippines’ 2016 legal victory over China in the West Philippine Sea.
“I think the Philippines is very clear regarding the 2016 (arbitral) award, which is binding and final, and (in) upholding the resolution of the issues by dialogues, by negotiating code of conduct,” she said.