Arroyo, RP officials expected however to show strong support for VFA

MANILA - Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Sunday said he wants President Arroyo to include the review of the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the Unites States discussed when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits the Philippines next week.

The US State Department said Clinton will be visiting the Philippines on November 12 and 13 before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC) in Singapore. It will be Clinton’s first visit to the Philippines as US Secretary of State, the Philippines’ foreign affairs department said.

Pangilinan, in a statement Sunday, said the discussion on VFA will be essential for stronger bilateral relations between the Philippines and US. He said the Philippine Senate has adopted a resolution urging the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to renegotiate the VFA.

“The Senate resolution gives PGMA [President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo] the leverage to bring the matter of revisiting the 10-year old document and addressing the matter of its legality and constitutionality. The VFA is grossly lopsided. Japan SOFA provides for the creation of a joint committee as a means of consultation between the US and the Japanese government on all matters requiring mutual consultation, a provision which is not found in VFA,” said the senator in the statement.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, in an impassioned sponsorship speech of the Senate resolution last August , has called on the Senate to ask President Arroyo to renegotiate or terminate the controversial VFA. Santiago said the VFA violates the Philippine Constitution and actually lets the US operate “forward operating bases” in the Philippines.

“PGMA must take this opportunity to raise our countrymen’s concern with the VFA. Our president must protect the interest of her people, and the VFA continues to trample on our sovereignty as a nation. It must be revisited. If it continues to exist as is, then it must be abrogated,” said Pangilinan in his statement.

Reaffirm defense ties

Pangilinan may however get what he is seeking – that the VFA be put on the agenda - but not on the tone that he wants, which is for President Arroyo to ask the US for a review of the controversial agreement.

This after a Palace official said Sunday that the Philippines will seek to reaffirm its defense ties with the United States when Clinton visits the former American colony this week.

President Arroyo and her defense officials were expected to express their "strong support" for the VFA when Clinton arrives in Manila, deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar told reporters.

Ratified as a treaty by the Philippines in 1999, the VFA outlines the rules governing the conduct of US troops participating in joint military exercises here.

It allows for the presence of US troops on the southern island of Mindanao where they are helping train Philippine forces against Al Qaeda-linked militants.

"Obviously, the VFA will be a very big topic because that is very important to the Americans," Olivar said. "We would welcome Clinton as the representative of our longest and most ardent supporter, the United States."

Ties between the allies are on the mend after Philippine legislators threatened to review the treaty amid public uproar over a controversial rape case involving a US Marine.

US Marines’ Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was convicted of raping a Filipina in November 2005. He was given a 40-year sentence in December 2006 but was discreetly transferred to a facility inside the US embassy compound.

Public uproar that followed saw near-daily street protests demanding that Smith be held in a local jail. Smith won an appeal in April after the woman recanted her story in a bizarre twist of events.

Show solidarity

"I'll be going to the Philippines, to show solidarity with our friends in the Philippines who have been battered by typhoons and have just suffered so much over the last weeks," Clinton said in a speech in Washington reported Saturday.

Arroyo’s Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Saturday in a statement that Mrs. Arroyo will "discuss the smooth turnover of power and the implementation of a clean, honest and orderly election" when Clinton visits the Philippines next week on her way to Singapore for the APEC Summit.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo had also essentially detailed the agenda that will be discussed by Philippine and US officials.

"This visit by Secretary Clinton is a good opportunity for the Philippine and US governments to have substantial discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest - disaster management, the Mindanao peace process, climate change, and nuclear non-proliferation," Romulo said in a press statement Saturday.

Clinton’s two-day visit includes a courtesy call on President Arroyo and consultations with senior Philippine officials.

Clinton's visit comes five months after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Manila and vowed continued support for Philippine troops in the fight against Islamic militants.

Small numbers of US forces have been rotating to Mindanao since 2003, providing intelligence and training to Philippine troops that have led to the capture or deaths of key leaders of the Abu Sayyaf militant group.

The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks, including a series of bombings and kidnappings. With a report from Agence France Presse