RP, US sign deal extending logistics support agreement

The Philippines and the United States formally signed last November an agreement extending for five years a military logistics support arrangement.

The extension of the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) was discussed for about a year before its expiration in November last year.

Washington has similar military-to-military arrangements with 56 countries and considers them executive agreements requiring no ratification by the legislature. Manila signed its first five-year MLSA with Washington in 2002.

Last night US Ambassador Kristie Kenney confirmed the extension.

The signatories for the US in the new MSLA were led by Army Col. Mathias Velasco, head of the Joint US Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG). The Philippines was represented by a military general.

Officials said there were no additional provisions in the new MSLA. The Americans have maintained that they do not intend to open new bases in the Philippines.

Since 2002, hundreds of US troops have been regularly deployed in Mindanao under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines mainly in intelligence-gathering and training to fight terrorists. US forces also conduct regular civic-medical missions and engineering work.

The US troops, which include Navy SEALS and National Guard members, are under the command of US Special Forces, which have increasingly become the front-liners in America’s global war on terror.

The Philippines’ Department of National Defense (DND) proposed a five-year extension of the MLSA and endorsed the renewal of the military agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs, a senior DFA official disclosed yesterday.

“There was a proposal from the DND to extend the MLSA and we (DFA) were asked for our views,” the official, who asked not to be named, said. “The provisions of the MLSA allowed for such an extension.”

Because the MLSA is considered an executive agreement, the official said the review was done only by the executive branch.

“The endorsement must have come from the top officials of the DND. I’m sure they asked the views of the Department of Justice here given its nature,” the official said.

In agreeing with the DND to recommend the extension, the official noted that “there are no specific problems and issues in the MLSA.”

“We’d have more to lose if it would not be extended because this is part of building up the capability of our Armed Forces,” the official said.

Former Armed Forces chief Edilberto Adan, executive director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement, said the MLSA would not lead to any deal on setting up US bases in the country.

Manila and Washington signed the MLSA in November 2002 to allow US military forces to buy supplies and services when their warships, aircraft and troops take part in annual war games in the Philippines. – With Pia Lee-Brago