Uncertainty clouds RP-U.S. agreement

Uncertainty clouds RP-U.S. agreement

The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) between the
Philippines and the United States is expected to be signed during
or immediately after the visit here of U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell later this week.

Since the negotiations began since President Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo's visit to the U.S. last January, no one is certain
whether the MLSA would establish new U.S. bases, which are
forbidden by the Philippine Constitution following the withdrawal
of these bases in 1992 after the Senate made a historic vote
rejecting a new bases treaty.

All we have are assurances that: (1) no new bases will be
established; (2) the constitutional ban will be respected and (3)
the MLSA is not a treaty but an executive agreement that does not
require Senate ratification.

The MLSA seeks to allow the U.S. to provide "logistic
supplies, support and services" in the pursuit of its security
commitments to the Philippines, within the framework of the
Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty.

"Support and services" includes billeting, transport and
communication facilities, construction incident to operations and
storage services.

It is not clear how long these facilities will be in place,
and this is the source of fears that, given the U.S. concerns in
Asia in connection with its campaign against international
terrorism, the facilities could become more or less permanent and
the presence of U.S. forces could be open-ended.

The American and Philippine governments have decided to steer
clear of the political traps of Senate ratification by treating
the MLSA as an executive agreement.

The MLSA could be signed even before we know its contents. To
get public support for the MLSA, it is not enough that the
President and new Foreign Secretary Blas Ople echo the assurance
of U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone that it is but a
"relatively low-level agreement between military to military".

Ricciardone said the provision is "a simple kind of accounting
procedure between us and other friendly countries ... We do
things for you, and you do things for us and we agree how to
account for it with each other."

The possibility of putting up fixed bases as the anchor of
U.S. strategic defense like it was during the Cold War is deemed
remote. Bases are now considered expensive and politically messy.

Bases have been replaced by capability for flexible and mobile
deployment of forces in trouble spots. But there is uncertainty
that the facilities to be established under the agreement could
serve as platforms for U.S. forces engaged in military action in
third countries that are targets of the war on terrorism.

If the MLSA is just an "accounting procedure" then there
should be no problem disclosing its contents before it is signed.
But from the definition of logistic, support and supplies, the
MLSA may be more than a technical procedure.