Senate to scrutinize MLSA

Senate President Franklin Drilon said yesterday that the Senate would scrutinize the newly signed RP-US Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA).

At the same time, Drilon stressed that Malacanang could not unilaterally declare that the agreement does not need Senate ratification or concurrence.

"It is not for Malacanang to decide whether or not what was signed wih a foreign country needs Senate ratification or concurrence. Malacanang cannot speak for us!" Drilon said.

He said he would ask the Senate committee on foreign relations headed by Sen. Manny Villar and the Senate committee on national defense headed by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. to conduct the MLSA review.

Even as Drilon stressed the constitutional duty of the Senate to look into all international agreements entered into by the government, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople defended Malacañang and challenged all critics to question the legality of MLSA before the Supreme Court.

Ople particularly directed his challenge to Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., who claimed the MLSA contained unconstitutional provisions.

"As a matter of fact, Vice President Guingona immediately thanked me for the dispatch with which he was informed about the agreement," Ople said in a statement.

Ople challenged Guingona to prove before the Supreme Court that the MLSA violated the Constitution.

He said critics would only end up disappointed if the Supreme Court dismisses their petition for lack of "justiciable controversy," just like in the case of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), whose constitutionality and legality was upheld by the high tribunal.

In the alternative, Ople said he is also willing to engage Guingona in a public debate on the MLSA and other issues affecting foreign policy. He said the debate could be sponsored by the National Press Club of the Philippines.

Ople reiterated that the MLSA, as an executive agreement, need not be sent to the Senate for concurrence or ratification.

Asked why lawmakers were not consulted during the negotiations, Ople said "responsible states do not negotiate under the glare of publicity but under conditions of minimum circumspection."

Ople and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes described the MLSA as a mere low-level technical agreement which does not need Senate concurrence or ratification since it does not enunciate any new foreign policy.

Drilon said it is not the nomenclature of the signed document that matters to the Senate but whether or not it conforms with the Constitution, especially on the issue of basing foreign troops.

He criticized Reyes for his "arrogance" in assuming that senators need not be consulted on the MLSA, and for going to the Senate for a supposed "briefing" without prior notice.

"A lot of senators resent the arrogance of Reyes," Drilon added.

"There was even no formal submission of the MLSA to the Senate as a body. There was only the presentation of the document to senators as individuals."

Drilon’s call for a Senate review drew support from opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Pimentel said the "hasty" signing of the controversial agreement caught the civilian authority, particularly the Senate "with their pants down," with no other recourse but to subject the MLSA to further inquiry.

Administration Rep. Apolinario Lozada (Negros Oriental), chairman of the House foreign relations committee, said they will also conduct a review of the military pact.

He said the committee will make a recommendation to Malacañang to submit the accord for ratification of the Senate.

Lozada claimed he was sent a copy of the MLSA but without the necessary documents which further explains the provisions of the accord.

"I received the nine-page document minus the annexes, they (Malacañang) promised me to send the (entire) documents," he said.

Lozada disclosed that in his initial reading of MLSA, some of its provisions do not reflect those of the draft copy which Malacañang, Congress and other government agencies concerned had deliberated.

The Negros lawmaker, however, refused to elaborate on the questionable provisions but said the House committee will make the final review and submit its recommendations to Malacañang.

"We are bit disturbed by the developments," Lozada told reporters in in Filipino.

At Malacañang, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye claimed Guingona "largely influenced" the final draft of the MLSA that was signed at Camp Aguinaldo last Thursday.

‘Guingona was consulted’

Bunye sid Guingona has been consulted before and given the draft copy of the basing agreement before it was signed.

He said many of the suggestions made by Guingona were included in the basing agreement, including the period of effectivity of MLSA and the review procedure for the termination of the agreement.

Golez added the Vice President was even invited as a "resource person" by the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COCIS) when the final draft was presented to him even after resigning from the Cabinet as foreign affairs secretary last july 15.

The two officials maintained Malacañang’s position that the MLSA is an executive agreement that does not need Senate ratification.

Golez, on his part, likened MLSA to a "government-to-government supply contract" that can be entered by the executive department without the need for approval by Congress.

"Because otherwise, they (lawmakers) will be encroaching into executive functions. Imagine every time the government will enter into a contract, we have to brief Congress. That would slow down the executive department," Golez said.

Golez said Congress has the recourse to exercise its oversight powers to summon all concerned officials to explain the circumstances on the signing of MLSA.

He said Ople and Reyes have the task of briefing legislators on the MLSA since they are members of the committee which supervised the drafting and negotiations of the basing agreement.

Pimentel, however, accused the Department of National Defense (DND) of violating the Constitution in disregarding the superiority of the civilian authority.

"In the case of the MLSA, the Senate was not informed and it was been officially submitted to the Senate," Pimentel told a weekly media forum at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City.

He said Malacañang deliberately kept Congress in the dark on the signing of MLSA out of fear that certain objections may be raised by lawmakers which could delay the implementation of the accord.

Reyes earlier said if lawmakers were briefed before the signing of the accord, it might result in further delay of its approval.

The defense chief maintained there was nothing secret in the signing of MLSA, stressing the pact was merely a facilitation of logistics transaction between the Philippines and the United States.

Pimentel said the MLSA is not lacking in defenders at the Senate.

"In my view, there is nothing wrong with an agreement like the MLSA as long as the Americans would pay for the materials and supplies they get from the country, no revival of the US bases and constitutional provision or law would be violated," he said

But because the senators were not given the benefit of prior consultation, Pimentel said the task of defending MLSA becomes difficult.

For his part, Lt. Col. Emmanuel Bautista, chief of the planning department of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the MLSA is no big deal for the Senate to look into.

"It is a military to military agreement between the DND of the Philippines and US government and it does not need the scrutiny of the Senate," Bautista explained before the forum.

Pimentel, however, reacted by saying MLSA could set a bad precedent because the military precisely disregarded the civilian authority and acted on its own involving itself in the signing of an international agreement without the concurrence of the Senate.

"It now looks like the military can enter into any agreement that don’t involve the country, There is a very dangerous precedent over this matter and what is happening is that the military can enter into any agreement," he said.

Pimentel went on to claim that the military, particularly the AFP, has now a separate identity with the Philippine government. "So, we will return to lack of civilian authority," he said.

He expressed his suspicions that MLSA was hastily signed in anticipation of the possible breakout of war between the United States and Iraq which would require the use of the country’s facilities by American military forces for refueling and resupply purposes.

Militant step up attacks

As this developed, militant groups stepped up its opposition against MLSA by accusing Mrs. Arroyo, Ople and Reyes of betraying the public trust in the signing of MLSA.

In a statement, the militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Pamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said Mrs. Arroyo, Ople and Reyes committed "one of the biggest crimes of the millenium at the expense of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and collective will of the Filipino people."

Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap went on to accuse Malacañang of signing the death warrant of the people in the signing of MLSA.

The group also called on the Senate to take jurisdiction over the basing pact agreement and tasked the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Arroyo on grounds of betrayal of public trust.

Pamalakaya spokesman Gerry Corpuz called on both houses of Congress to pass a resolution nullfying the agreement and summon all parties involved in the signing of MLSA to face a congressional body "for the act of treason."

"It (MLSA) was a supreme betrayal of national sovereignty which officially declares the Philippines as the US’ biggest launching pad for war of aggression outside the mainland of America," Corpuz said.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said they are launching a National Day of Protest against MLSA on November 30, the birth date of proletarian hero Andres Bonifacio, a traditional holiday observed by workers and militant labor movement. — With Marichu Villllanueva, Aurea Calica, Perseus Echeminada, Sandy Araneta