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Increased US presence can help PHL defend its territory as it modernizes its military – DFA chief


(Updated 1:29 p.m.) An expanded United States military rotational presence can help the Philippines defend its territory as it builds up its defense capability, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Monday.
 
Del Rosario made the remarks at a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo where he and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin announced the start this week of negotiations between the Philippines and US governments on a larger presence of American troops in the country.
 
“Our region needs to know that we are steadfastly for peace; but that we stand ready to tap every resource, to call on every alliance, to do what is necessary, to defend what is ours, to secure our nation and to keep our people safe,” Del Rosario said.
 
“For our defense, modernization can begin even before we are able to purchase the necessary defense systems. Deterrence can be enhanced even before modernization. Maritime security and maritime domain awareness will be given a boost even before we have ships and aircraft we need.”
 
Manila has turned to the US, Australia, Japan and other western allies in an ongoing effort to modernize its military, among the weakest in the Asian region. It also did so to strengthen its capability to guard and defend its territory, including Manila-claimed territories in the disputed South China Sea, which is being claimed nearly in its entirety by China. Parts of the resource-rich waters that fall within the Philippines’ internationally-mandated exclusive economic zone have been renamed West Philippine Sea by Manila.
 
The Philippine military has been spread thin all over the country because it also has to deal with decades-long insurgencies by Muslim and communist New People's Army rebels.
 
On the other hand, the US has announced an "Asian pivot" after its heavy military engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Top level visits by US officials to the region has been aimed at strengthening both security and trade relations in a region that has been praised for its resilient economic growth.
 
The proposed rotational US presence, Del Rosario said, will enhance the military alliance of the Philippines and the US and help ensure regional stability.

Will abide by the Philippine Constitution
 
Del Rosario and Gazmin assured any such presence will abide by the Philippine Constitution.
 
“Transparency is important in these negotiations. Our people need to know and be assured that our laws and interests are protected at all times,” Del Rosario said.
 
The Philippine negotiating team is composed of Defense Assistant Secretary Raymund Jose Quilop, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Carlos Sorreta, Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III. Photo by Amanda Fernandez
During the press conference, members of the four-man Philippine negotiating team were introduced by Del Rosario and Gazmin.

The government panel consists of: Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Defense Assistant Secretary Raymund Jose Quilop, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Carlos Sorreta, and Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III.
 
Soretta said the negotiations with their counterparts, headed by Eric John, Senior Advisor for Security Negotiations and Agreements of Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, will start on Wednesday at the DND building.

He said the activities under this supposed agreement will be covered by the VFA and the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US.
 
“Our Philippine negotiators have been given parameters that require them to ensure that our Constitution and laws are respected. They have been tasked to ensure that Philippine interests are preserved and promoted,” Del Rosario said.
 
President Aquino’s administration has said it would resolve territorial disputes with China through diplomacy, but at the same time has undertaken a program to modernize its ill-equipped military for the country to have a “minimum credible defense posture.”
 
Del Rosario said the Philippines arrived at an understanding with the US on increased rotational presence two years ago.
 
“At the frontlines of ensuring the security of our people and the territorial integrity of our nation is the profound partnership between diplomacy and defense,” Del Rosario said. “We have to strengthen both if we are to secure our people and our nation.”
 
“This week, diplomacy and defense will once again intersect to secure our nation. This week we start negotiations with the United States to institutionalize this policy through a framework agreement.”

Deeper relations
 
For his part, Gazmin said the agreement will not only enhance the capabilities of the two countries, but also strengthen the alliance between the Philippines and the US.
 
"It is in the interest of further deepening cooperation between our countries that we are engaging each other as regards increased rational presence," he said.
 
"This will enable the Philippines and the US to conduct activities such as bilateral exercises, including the prepositioning of equipment for disaster response and development of Philippine facilities, among others," he added.

Meanwhile, Sorreta said the framework agreement will only provide general parameters and principles, and “will not provide details with respect to the size and shape of each activity mutually approved by the Philippines and the US.”

He also clarified that the agreement is not a renegotiation of the VFA.

When asked on the need for a separate agreement, Batino said, "We have seen in the past that executing agreements... that when countries execute agreements, they build greater momentum to the strengthening of their relationship."

"It is a position of the department that a stronger alliance with the US creates a stronger defense posture for the Philippines," he added.

Batino said while the mutual defense treaty and the VFA already provided the legal framework for the temporary presence of the US forces in the country, "we can take advantage of this opportunity to provide clearer safeguards for the protection of our national concerns, and these concerns we will discuss with the US panel come negotiations.”
 
US bases
 
For decades, the US maintained large military bases in Clark, Pampanga and Subic Bay in Olongapo, Zambales until Philippine lawmakers voted to close it down in 1991.
 
But since 2002, about 500 to 600 American troops have been staying in Philippine military camps in southern Mindanao to help train and provide intelligence information to Filipino soldiers, who are fighting violent Muslim groups like the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah.
 
The American presence is allowed under the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which was ratified by the Senate to govern the temporary stay of US forces for joint trainings with the Philippine military.
 
China, which had long opposed any involvement of foreign countries in the dispute, repeatedly warned Washington to keep out of the territorial row. 
 
Competing claims to the South China Sea, a strategic waterway believed to be sitting atop huge gas and oil deposits, have sparked occasional violence and now regarded as a potential regional flashpoint for armed conflict. 
 
The US is not a party to the territorial row but has declared that it is in its national interest to ensure unfettered access to the sea and that conflicts are resolved peacefully. —KG/KBK, GMA News
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