TOR won’t apply to future war games

Setting the record straight, Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr. clarified yesterday that the terms of reference (TOR) for the ongoing Balikatan war games signed between the militaries of the Philippines and the United States does not apply to future military exercises in the country.

Guingona, who left the signing of the military document to Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, made clear that the holding of war games will still be on a "case to case basis" and each one will require a new and separate TOR.

"We are not talking about other exercises here. It (TOR) only applies to Balikatan 02-1, so it will be on a case to case basis," Guingona said.

The Vice President admitted he was not particularly happy about the joint RP-US military exercises in Basilan but he was satisfied that his inputs and the changes he proposed were accepted by the US side.

Guingona was referring to his recommendation that the authority of the exercises should be placed under the Armed Forces of the Philippines and his proposal to confine the war games to Basilan.

He had noted major departures from the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)

in the conduct of the Balikatan 02-1, such as the holding of the exercises in conflict areas, the presence of live enemies (Abu Sayyaf) and the use of live ammunitions by participating Philippine and US troops.

"Just say I’m satisfied because we made some changes which we thought would be good for the national interest," he said.

The war games officially started yesterday on Basilan island with the arrival of the first batch of some 160 special operations troopers to train some 4,000 Philippine soldiers in the war against the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.