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Pamalakaya fears Palace to skirt Senate role on new defense treaty
Defense chief asked: Will Malacañang submit new security pact with the US to Senate for concurrence?

Opponents of American military presence in the country today asked Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Atty. Avelino Cruz if Malacañang will submit the proposed security pact with the United States to the Senate for concurrence.

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) advanced the inquiry a day after Sec. Cruz revealed that the Philippine government is negotiating a more modern security arrangement with the United States to cover militants, bird flu, piracy, natural disasters and other threats to national security.

“ There is a strong indication that Malacañang will skirt Senate’s role and keep the controversial security agreement away from national debate,” says Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement.

Hicap said the new security pact being eyed by Malacañang either will revive the Mutual Defense Treaty signed by the government in the early 50s or the RP-US Bases Treaty of 1991 rejected by the Senate on September 16, 1991.

“ As a matter of historical record, Washington’s imperial army has been violating the Filipino people’s sovereign right since time immemorial. Sec. Cruz should stop acting as if he is the US’ military ambassador to the Philippines,” the militant leader said.

Pamalakaya said Sec. Cruz is giving a “ dignity to a paper pact” that would only trample the sovereign rights of the people in the name of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s puppetry to the world’s no.1 terrorist nation.

Officials of the defense department said the new pact will be ready for signing by April 1, but Secretary Cruz refused to state when the new security pact with the US would wrap up. The militant group said Cruz’s behavior merely reflects the policy of Malacañang to clinch the agreement behind backdoor and without the benefit of through debate and consultation.

The defense chief also said he was also studying status of forced agreements used by the likes of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as templates for similar pacts the Macapagal-Arroyo government is seeking with Australia and several countries in Southeast Asia.

But Sec. Cruz guaranteed that the new security pact with US would be consistent with the Philippine Constitution and laws to avoid a repeat of the controversy generated by the Subic rape case last year.

“ This system of guarantees is nothing but a pure paper pact. It is a traditional pattern that has glorified American military intervention at the turn of the 20th century that made us hostage for life by Washington’s military,” Pamalakaya said.

The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) signed in 1998, 7 years after the Senate rejected the proposed 1991 bases agreement between the two countries, today covers the presence of US military forces in the country. But leftist groups and other anti-US military forces organizations are calling for its immediate abrogation, citing the rape case involving four US marines last year. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:47 | link | comments |

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