ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF DISASTER CAPITALISM BY US BASES BEING SCAMMED BECAUSE OF MANUFACTURED CHINA SEA/LAND GRAB SCENARIO Perennial gadfly Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago this early is insisting that US access to Philippine bases under a new regime of expanded US military presence in the country will have to be covered by a treaty that will be scrutinized and concurred in by the Senate. The deployment of US military hardware in Philippine territory isn’t a minor detail that may be covered by an executive agreement as the Department of National Defense claims, said Santiago, an international law expert who chairs the Senate committee on foreign relations. Not a minor detail An executive agreement should only be carrying out the details of a prior treaty, and the government might argue that the prior treaty in this case would be the 62-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the US and that they are just carrying out the details of this treaty, the senator said. “[But] posting the war equipment of a foreign sovereign state is not a minor case of detail, you know,” Santiago told reporters on Friday. “It is a major subject in itself so it (the new agreement) cannot be classified as an executive agreement but as a treaty to which the Philippine Senate must give its concurrence,” she said. Defense and diplomatic officials on Friday said the Philippines had offered access to local military bases to the United States under a new security deal that was in the final stages of negotiation. The offer was made during the sixth round of talks held in Washington, DC, last week on an “Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation” that will allow increased US military presence in the country, more than two decades after the US gave up its military bases here following a Senate vote not to renew their leases and the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. The two sides hope to finalize the terms of the new agreement before US President Barack Obama embarks on a visit to Asia, including the Philippines, next month. The Philippines is seeking a stronger defense cooperation with the US as its territorial dispute with China over areas of the South China Sea intensifies, while the US is “rebalancing” its forces in the Asia-Pacific region as part of its strategy to counter Chinese power. 3 conditions for ratification Muntinlupa Representative Rodolfo Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief who chairs the House of Representatives’ national defense committee, said one of the main points of contention, once the deal is finalized, could center on who would control the areas where the US forces would be allowed to stay. Biazon noted that at present, the US forces that are in the country under the Visiting Forces Agreement have mobile facilities inside the Philippine bases, and these are in Filipino-controlled territories where Filipino rules and regulations are enforced. According to Biazon, whatever form the agreement would take, whether an executive agreement or a treaty, it will have to go through Senate ratification under three conditions—if it is political in nature, if it is permanent in nature, and if it requires a change in some of the country’s national policies. The Constitution prohibits foreign bases on Philippine territory, unless provided for by a treaty approved by the Senate. A defense official has said the “Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation” between the Philippines and the United States would not require Senate ratification. Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/585958/issues-raised-over-us-troops-return-to-ph#ixzz2xT2q12NQ Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 06:36:00 +0000
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