Palace to brief senators on MLSA

Malacañang reassured senators yesterday that they will be fully briefed on the Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement between the Philippines and the United States even as the Palace maintained that the MLSA need not be ratified by the Senate.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Malacañang would give a "full briefing" to the Senate prior to the signing of the MLSA, but sidestepped questions on whether the senators would be allowed to give their inputs on the proposed draft.

"All we’re saying is that they will be briefed beforehand," Bunye said.

Bunye said incoming Foreign Secretary Blas Ople and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes would provide the briefing to the senators.

Reyes headed the three-man Cabinet committee which drafted the MLSA. The others were Vice President Teofisto Guingona when he was foreign secretary and Justice Secretary Hernando Perez.

Mrs. Arroyo assigned this Cabinet committee last year to craft the proposed MLSA.

"Anyway there has been commitment on the part of Senator Ople that proper briefings would be conducted not only by himself but also by the defense secretary with regards to the implications of the MLSA," Bunye said.

"And I believe that would be done as Senator Ople takes over the DFA, there would be presentations of the provisions to the Senate," he pointed out.

Mrs. Arroyo, concurrently acting as foreign secretary, earlier said the MLSA need not go through the Senate for ratification since it is just "an accounting arrangement" at the level of the two military establishments.

Bunye would not say yet how soon the senators would be given the briefing on the draft MLSA which was earlier submitted to Mrs. Arroyo who, in turn, referred it back to the committee for review.

"It’s just a matter of timing. According to Senator Ople, the text of the MLSA is not yet final. There has been no formal agreement yet so it’s pointless at this time to present something which is not more or less final," Bunye said.

He similarly dismissed concerns that any delays in the signing of the MLSA might consequently lead to the slowdown of US government assistance to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

"The President has made her stand on that. She will allow the normal process for this to take place and when the papers are presented to her, then that’s when she takes action," Bunye said.

"We have good relationship (with the US) right now based on our existing treaties and the MLSA is more or less an addendum to this existing agreement. I would believe this would further enhance our existing relations," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo said Tuesday night the proposal is "okay in principle" but this would still go through Cabinet review before final approval.

Interviewed Tuesday night on "Strictly Politics" TV show over ANC news Channel, Mrs. Arroyo assured the Filipino people that the draft MLSA is not being rushed by the Philippine government to be ready for signing when US Secretary of State Colin Powell visits the country on Aug. 2.