US government cool to Visiting Forces Agreement review

MANILA, Philippines - Amid plans by the Senate to review the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States, Ambassador Kristie Kenney said yesterday that the VFA “works well.”

On the sidelines of the Balikatan exercises in Bicol, Kenney was asked for comment on a Senate review of the VFA.

“I think the VFA works well,” she replied. “The reason we can bring in the (US) military here is because we have an agreement. This is a sovereign nation. We have a legal agreement under which we can do that in tackling our work and exactly where to go.”

This developed as Malacañang said yesterday it would not stop the Senate from reviewing the VFA.

Kenney said procedures stipulated in the VFA had been strictly followed in the rape case involving US Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith.

“What I think has helped all of us is the fact that we have a framework to go on this. We have the VFA so we knew what to do and when to do it. We followed all the procedures of the VFA,” Kenney earlier said.

“This is the first case under the VFA. It is almost 10 years now in existence so I think for all of us it has been difficult and complicated. Everybody watched (Smith’s case) very closely and for the families involved I think it was very emotional. The issues were never easy to deal with,” she said in Manila the other day.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Palace respects the move of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the VFA, to start a review of the pact.

“The review of the VFA is the mandate of the Senate,” Bello told a news briefing. “If the Senate’s position is to review the implication of the VFA, we have to respect that as a co-equal body.”

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs would also make its recommendations for the VFA, which Santiago viewed as lopsided in favor of the US.

Santiago said the review was aimed at setting clearer guidelines on how US soldiers accused of crimes in the country should be treated.

She said lawmakers should take a “good tough look” at the VFA.

“There are other pending VFAs, for the information of the Filipino public, with other countries,” she said.

Santiago said the hearing would be held next month as Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo had asked that he be given enough time to attend to the issue.

At the House of Representatives, Isabela congressman Rodolfo Albano III called for the scrapping of the VFA.

“It’s a one-sided agreement that favors only the Americans. We might as well scrap it,” he told reporters.

Albano was reacting to Santiago’s announcement that she would convene the Legislative Oversight Committee on the VFA to take a “good tough look” at the agreement.

Santiago chairs the committee, in which Albano sits as a member of the House contingent.

The Isabela congressman said he would attend the planned meeting of the VFA oversight panel to urge his colleagues to recommend the scrapping of the deal.

Albano said the VFA “makes the Philippines a magnet for terrorism.”

“The presence here especially in Mindanao of American soldiers under the VFA makes them targets of foreign and local terrorists,” he said.

He said American troops in Mindanao gather intelligence on potential terror attacks on the US in the pretext of training their Filipino counterparts.

“It is the Americans who benefit from this arrangement, not us,” he added.

He pointed out that the continued presence of US soldiers in Mindanao might in fact be a violation of the VFA and the Constitution, which both allow temporary stay only.

“They have been in the south since 2001. That cannot be called temporary presence as stipulated under the VFA and the Constitution,” he stressed.

He said the government should feel slighted by the sudden departure of Smith, whose conviction for rape by a Makati court was overturned by the Court of Appeals.

“The government was not informed of Mr. Smith’s surreptitious departure. Up to now, we don’t know when and how he left the country,” he said.

He noted that even Smith’s lawyer, Jose Justiniano, was surprised to learn of Smith’s departure.

On Monday, Kenney said the DFA had been informed of Smith’s departure.

“The Philippine courts were the ones that had jurisdiction over this case, so it is important to keep the DFA fully posted and to work with them at every stage,” she said.

“They were, of course, notified not only of the decision but of Daniel Smith’s departure from the country. We followed all the procedures of the VFA,” Kenney said.

DFA fact sheet

A fact sheet prepared by the DFA’s Office of American Affairs cited the benefits the country could gain from the VFA.

“The Philippine Government believes that the Philippines-United States Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is indispensable to the nation’s security,” the fact sheet read.

It said the VFA is crucial to building a strong Philippines and maintaining a stable Asia-Pacific.

It also said the VFA helps ensure that the AFP is kept abreast of new military strategies and technologies, as well as best practices of the US military.

The US is the Philippines’ largest source of foreign military financing, valued at an average of $30 million annually in grants. The US government has also committed to share in the expenses for the implementation of the Joint Defense Assessment (JDA), costing approximately $400 million over a 10-year period.

The VFA, the DFA fact sheet stated, also generates income for the country through the five-year RP-US Mutual Logistics Support Agreement that facilitates reciprocal provision of logistic support, supplies and services during military exercises.  

US ship visits to the Philippines brought in $5 million and $9.5 million in 2006 and 2007, respectively, in proceeds from the replenishment of supplies and logistics.

The fact sheet said the VFA facilitates RP-US cooperation by eliminating the scourge of terrorism and in rebuilding in times of disaster.

Through logistic and intelligence assistance received from the US, Philippine forces captured 38 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group and killed 127 others, including Khaddafy Janjalani, ASG spokesperson; Abu Solaiman, and ASG sub commander Ismin Sahiron, the DFA fact sheet said.

But a senior Filipino diplomat said there are several gray areas in the VFA.

The diplomat, who declined to be named, claimed the US government really intended the VFA to be vague and open to many interpretations.

“At the time of negotiations, the Philippine side is pushing for a well-defined agreement, but they wanted it to be like that. It was a take-it-or-leave-it situation and we were really pressed to sign the agreement,” the source said. With Pia Lee-Brago and Jess Diaz