Posted on 16 August 2013 by admin
News Release
August 16, 2013
How many? For how long? Where?
These were some of the questions raised by the umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in a protest held in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as the first round of negotiations for greater US military access in the Philippines concluded.
“Despite all the pronouncements of transparency, the Aquino government has kept the details of the ongoing negotiations for increased US rotational deployment under wraps. The proposal will surely go against the Constitution and has far reaching implications for national sovereignty, security, and even the environment,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“Philippine officials should at least answer three basic questions. How many troops will be allowed to be stationed in the Philippines? How long will they be here? Where will they be stationed?” he added.
Bayan asked the DFA to explain in full the framework agreement with the US which goes by the title “Framework Agreement for Increased Rotational Presence and Enhanced Defense Cooperation”.
“When the US and Philippine governments say it wants increased rotational presence, the presumption is that there is already existing US rotational presence in the country. If what is being referred to is the rotational deployment of some 600 US Special Forces in Mindanao since 2002, then this is indeed problematic. Those US Special Forces being rotated have been in our country for the last 11 years, their presence already considered permanent,” Reyes said.
“We find alarming the statements of the Philippine negotiators that there will be no specific number of troops being rotated. This could mean 100 to 10,000 US troops at any given time. There is also no specified duration for their stay. They may be rotated but their actual presence can last for years as we have seen in Mindanao,” he added.
Which facilities?
Bayan also called on the Philippine government to disclose which facilities will be used by the US forces.
“From what we are hearing, it seems that the entire Philippine archipelago will be open to US troops and warships. US troops will not just be limited to Subic and Clark. They can access any Philippine facility and station their troops there,” Reyes said.
The group also asked the Philippine government to clarify a provision in the negotiations pertaining to “prepositioning of defense equipment, supplies and materiel.”
“How will this prepositioning be operationalized? Will the PH government allow the US to store weapons of mass destruction and armed drones in our country? Who will have effective control over these storage facilities if indeed they will be inside PH facilities?” the group asked.
Bayan also assailed PH negotiators for failing to even mention that the US government has yet to pay any damages for the Tubbataha reef. The group said that the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement does not even provide clear environmental guidelines and allows erring US troops to go free.
“The US has not paid a single cent for the damage to Tubbataha yet here is the Philippine government asking the US to send more troops and ships to our waters? Where is national interest in this?” Reyes said. #
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