Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Monday criticized President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for "wasting a golden opportunity" to change unfair provisions in the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) after United States (US) President Barack Obama gave her a courtesy phone call last Friday.

"We were hoping that if Arroyo's team could have been more creative and more out of the box in terms of their thinking, they could have used it [the phone call] as an opportunity to send a message to the United States. This could have been an opportunity to revisit...for a call, for a move to review, revisit our bilateral relations, reshape it, to something more attuned to the current situation worldwide. Even Obama himself had begun to shift some of these policies, I don't see why we could not have rode the wave," Pangilinan said in an interview Monday with ABS-CBN's News at 8.

Pangilinan said ten Senators are now calling for the treaty's abrogation and are pushing for informal discussions on the matter, in light of the agreement's "onerous" provisions.

"There are gaps in this agreement, and now it is showing its ugly face in the custody battle for [U.S. Marine Lance Corporal] Daniel Smith. It's shameful that you have a convicted rapist who happens to be a foreigner and is in the custody of the US embassy. We're going to have to assert our sovereignty here," he said.

Smith was convicted of raping 'Nicole', a Filipina, at the Subic Bay Freeport in 2006, but still remains in the custody of the United States despite moves by the government to turn him over to Philippine authorities.

Nicole's lawyer, Atty. Evelyn Ursua, also expressed disappointment over Arroyo's failure to bring up the custody issue during her phone call with President Obama last March 13.

"She does not care about Nicole's case. She does not care how oppressive, how unequal the VFA is, for as long as the United States' interest is promoted," Ursua said in an interview with ABS-CBN.

Pangilinan also cited the US Supreme Court's ruling on the Medellin case in March 2008, declaring that the VFA is not enforceable in the United States while there is no Federal Law making it executory. "It's not enforceable in the States, so what's the point?" he said.

Failed policy

Pangilinan also criticized the Obama administration for continuing a "failed policy", saying that the VFA was merely a tool for a useless war campaign started by Bush.

"Our position is, the VFA has become an instrument in the last 8 years to propagate or push what we now know as the Bush doctrine, the war against terrorism, which was already rejected. The people of the United States themselves made the war on Iraq an issue. These are failed policies," he said.

The senator added that continued American presence in the country would allow the US to check on China, a rising economic superpower, and hence, a threat to U.S. supremacy.

Militant groups like Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) also expressed concern over Obama's decision to reaffirm the treaty.

"This is not the change that people expect from the Obama administration. He's giving us more of the same Bush 'war on terror' rhetoric," BAYAN secretary-general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. said.

Constitutionality

Pangilinan also dismissed concerns that scrapping the VFA would hamper foreign aid to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

"We're harping on something that is based on unfounded fears. If the VFA was a great agreement and provided support to our Armed Forces, why is it that our air forces are all air and no force? The VFA creates more a dependence on the United States and a false sense of security," he said.

The Supreme Court (SC) had earlier ruled, for a second time, that the VFA is constitutional. Pangilinan, however, said that a motion for reconsideration is pending before the SC.

He also said that even if it takes a while to junk the VFA, lawmakers would continue to oppose the treaty, citing a two-pronged plan for scrapping the agreement including sending a notice of termination to the US, as provided under the VFA, and pushing President Arroyo and the Department of Foreign Affairs to renegotiate the VFA's provisions.

In a courtesy phone call on Friday, Obama and Arroyo discussed issues of common interest, including the mutual defense treaty and the global economic crisis. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to US-Philippine relations, including the VFA, which, the White House said, "remains critical to the bilateral relationship and [US] strategic interests.

Obama also commended Arroyo on her counter-terrorism programs and efforts to modernize the armed forces. -- by KRISTINE SERVANDO, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak