Estrada aide blasts bishops

Estrada aide blasts bishops

MANILA (AFP): Philippine President Joseph Estrada's chief
adviser, Ronaldo Zamora, berated Roman Catholic bishops on
Thursday for allegedly stoking hostile actions among opponents of
a defense pact with the United States.

Leaders of the country's dominant religion issued a pastoral
statement this week urging the senate to reject the "Visiting
Forces Agreement" for its alleged unfair provisions.

Press reports here quoted a ranking member of the Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines as saying many Filipinos
opposed the pact and that ratification would "provoke violent
street protests."

The agreement is set to be ratified by the senate next week.

Ratification would enable Washington to resume large-scale
annual military exercises with Manila which were suspended in
1995 due to ambiguity in criminal jurisdiction for visiting
foreign troops.