The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today pressed the Philippine government to cancel the scheduled Balikatan 2009 in the Bicol region as calls for the abrogation or suspension of the Visiting Forces Agreement continue to grow.The latest uproar over the VFA was triggered by a recent Supreme Court decision declaring as illegal the current detention of convicted rapist Daniel Smith in the US embassy. The US embassy in Manila said it will have to consult with lawyers in Washington before they could decide what to do with Smith. The Philippine government said it will respect the status quo.
“To have the Balikatan war games continue at this point truly adds insult to injury. The Philippine government must stop acting as if it’s business as usual between the Philippine and US governments. Especially not when there are serious issues of sovereignty that should be addressed,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“The US government’s refusal to surrender Smith to Philippine custody gives us another reason to abrogate the VFA and to cancel any scheduled US military exercise. The US is obviously treating us like a doormat with the consent of the Philippine government,” Reyes said.
The yearly Balikatan shifts to the Bicol region at the end of February, after being concentrated in Mindanao the past few years. Cause-oriented groups have accused the US of using the cover of military exercises to conduct military intervention in the country.
“The RP-US Balikatan is a concrete product of the VFA. Under this lopsided agreement, an unlimited number of US troops can enter the country and conduct activities for an unspecified period of time. The Philippines on the other hand hardly gets anything from the activities except for photo-ops humanitarian missions,” Reyes said.
“The Balikatan should be cancelled and the VFA abrogated. The Philippine government must now focus on getting Smith back and not on playing cheerleader to US troops entering the country,” the Bayan leader added.
Bayan said that eight years after the VFA was ratified by the Philippine Senate, there have been no real benefits that have been passed on to the Philippines.
“Except for the mandatory photo-ops humanitarian missions, there have really been no significant benefits from the Balikatan. Our AFP remains backward and ill-equipped and its human rights record is severely tarnished. We are no better now than when we had the US bases in Clark and Subic. Only a blindly subservient regime would chose to uphold such an unequal and non-beneficial accord,” Reyes said.
“That the VFA undermines our sovereignty, on top of having no visible benefits, should be reason enough to abrogate this agreement. Enough damage has been done under this pact. It’s time to throw it in the garbage bin,” he added.
The group said that though there were no real benefits from Balikatan, the US government may still use it as leverage to get favorable terms for Smith.
Bayan also expressed outrage that Foreign Affairs secretary Alberto Romulo is still being tasked to the negotiate with the US government. The SC earlier decided that the Romulo-Kenny agreement allowing Smith to be transferred to the US embassy was illegal.
“He bungled Smith’s custody and placed our country in an extremely embarrassing situation. Why is he still being tasked to negotiate Smith’s return? He obviously does not have the competence or ability to uphold national interest,” Reyes said.###
