Senators want to probe SOFA

Senators Manuel Roxas II and Jinggoy Estrada are asking the Senate to look into the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between the Philippines and Australia on May 31.

In a statement, the two said the Office of the President had yet to officially transmit the accord for Senate concurrence.

The two senators noted that not much had been heard about the SOFA after the signing.

“After the signing, we have not witnessed any formal effort on the part of the executive branch to push for the ratification of this bilateral agreement nor explain its features to the members of the Senate,” the two opposition senators said.

“Four months have lapsed since this agreement was signed. It was not even mentioned by the executive in any of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meetings,” they said.

The Senate will adjourn today for its customary break without a single hearing on the bilateral security pact.

“How important is this treaty to our defense establishment and our national interest? The executive branch should explain why it has yet to transmit this defense treaty to the Senate,” the senators said, adding that such an inexplicable delay might be misinterpreted as disinterest in the treaty.

The two senators noted that government’s attention given to the SOFA with Australia paled in comparison to vigorous debates and intense lobbying for and against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)  between the Philippines and the United States.

Yet, the two senators said despite the intensive debates, the VFA with the US turned out to have a basic flaw as revealed in the case of an American soldier accused of raping a Filipina in Subic, Olongapo.

In the Subic rape case, they noted questions about the custody of American soldiers surfaced. Roxas and Estrada said the Subic rape incident demonstrated the need for exhaustive studies and debates on similar defense agreements.

“Australia is one of the largest providers of defense training to our soldiers, second only to the United States. It has also been generous in funding human rights projects in the Philippines. Certainly, a defense agreement such as this deserves urgent attention from the Philippine side,” the senators said.

Then Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and his Australian counterpart, Minister Brendan Nelson, signed the agreement during a state visit of President Arroyo to Australia on May 30-31 this year.

Also signed during the President’s official visit was the Australia-Philippines Development Assistance Strategy 2007-2011 that provides a significant increase in aid funding for the Philippines, with assistance in 2007-2008 rising to $100.6 million, or a 46 percent increase over the previous year.

Australia’s bilateral defense cooperation budget for 2005-2006 was $3.526 million, with activities that include high-level policy talks, training of 80 defense personnel and exchange of visits of senior officials.

The bilateral defense relationship also focuses on counter-terrorism, maritime security and assistance to the Philippine Defense Reform Program.