Talks on US military presence revive Del Rosario-Trillanes feud

MANILA, Philippines - The feud between Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario resurfaced yesterday as the lawmaker assailed the Cabinet member’s involvement in talks on expanded US military presence in the country.

Trillanes, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense, said Del Rosario does not have a major role in the crafting of the agreement.

He reminded the executive department that the Senate is closely monitoring the executive agreement being prepared by the defense department and the US regarding their increased military presence.

“Although foreign relations is solely vested in the executive department to which Del Rosario belongs, his presence in the ongoing talks on US rotational presence is not needed since it is a defense matter,” Trillanes said in a radio interview.

“Secretary Del Rosario should not have a role in that,” he said.

Trillanes earlier accused Del Rosario of drawing the United States into the Philippines’ dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea.

Del Rosario, on the other hand, said the Department of Foreign Affairs executes the foreign policies of the President.

He refused to dignify the accusations of “those who are working to divide us,” apparently referring to reports that Trillanes was a backchannel negotiator in the territorial row with China.

Meanwhile, Trillanes also said that he and his fellow senators had an executive briefing about the executive agreement on the increased rotational presence of American troops in the Philippines.

He said they have agreed to wait for the details of the pact before calling for a probe.

“We are on top of the situation. We are monitoring it but we cannot just conduct a public hearing on this because there are operational matters that should not be made public,” Trillanes said.

“We are just monitoring it quietly on the sidelines to make sure that the provisions will not violate our Constitution and not go beyond the existing parameters of the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) and the MDT (Mutual Defense Treaty),” Trillanes said.

‘Negotiations railroaded’

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares yesterday said all negotiations on increasing the presence of US soldiers in the country should be held in Manila and be open to the public.

“Why are the talks being held in the Pentagon and not here in Manila? It is the US government that is asking for a favor so the talks should be held here in Manila or is it because they are brow beating Philippine negotiators there in Washington?” Colmenares said in a statement.

“From all indications, what is happening is not a negotiation but Philippine officials getting instructions from US defense officials on what they want and how to explain it to the wary Filipino people,” he said.

He said another possible reason why the talks are being held in Washington is that both governments “are afraid of mass mobilizations of nationalist and progressive groups opposed to this new agreement.”

Joint amphibious exercises

Amid ongoing talks on expanded US military presence in the country, the Philippines and the United States will hold joint amphibious exercises this month.

The Philippines-US Amphibious Landing Exercises (PHIBLEX) 2014 will kick off on Sept. 18 and last for three weeks.

PHIBLEX 2014 public affairs officer 1Lt. Vince Salmingo yesterday said about 2,300 Filipino and American soldiers would join the drills.

PHIBLEX 2014 is the 30th iteration of the exercise and will involve air-ground and amphibious training and staff planning drills.

Exercises will be conducted in the Naval Education and Training Command in San Antonio, Zambales; Crow Valley in Capas, Tarlac; The Marine Base Gregorio Lim in Ternate, Cavite; the Marine Barracks Rudiardo Brown in Metro Manila; and Basa Airbase and Clark Field in Pampanga. – With Paolo Romero, Alexis Romero