Mar wants SOVFA reviewed

Sen. Manuel Roxas II is seeking a thorough evaluation of the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and Australia.

“I am sure that the Senate will give this defense agreement the priority it deserves,” he said.

“We expect a full briefing on what the agreement is all about and a thorough discussion about joint military exercises and the presence of foreign troops in the country.”

“I hope that our defense and military officials will extend its full cooperation to the Senate once these hearings are underway.”

Earlier, Roxas and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada questioned the apparent lack of attention  given to the SOVFA signed by the Philippines with Australia on May 31.

The two said it took a while before the Office of the President transmitted the accord to the Senate for concurrence.

In a letter last Sept. 25, President Arroyo sought the ratification of the accord, which was received by the Senate on Oct. 3.

The Australian Parliament ratified the treaty in September.

In a statement last Oct. 3, the two senators said the executive branch was not exerting any effort to explain the agreement’s  features to the  Senate in pushing for its ratification.

Roxas and Estrada said the SOVFA was not even mentioned by the Executive Department in any of the Legislative Executive Development  Advisory Council meetings.

The two senators said the public must know how important the  treaty would be to the defense establishment and the national interest.

The government attention given to the defense agreement with Australia paled in comparison to vigorous debates and intense lobbying for and against the VFA between the Philippines and the United States, the two added.

The two senators said the VFA with the US revealed a basic flaw in the case of an American soldier convicted of raping a Filipina at the Subic Freeport.

In the Subic rape case, questions about the custody of American  soldiers surfaced, the two added.

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,” the two senators said.

“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.”

In her Sept. 25 letter to the Senate, Mrs. Arroyo said SOVFA explicitly “provides for the prosecution of any member of the visiting force from Australia and its civilian component” who commits a crime in the country.