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US, Philippines boost military ties. Why now?
A new defense agreement will strengthen the US military presence in the Philippines, a former US colony. The move comes amid tension in the region over China's claims in the South China Sea.
http://www.csmonitor.com/
By Donald Kirk, Correspondent / April 28, 2014



President Barack Obama, left, and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III participate in a bilateral meeting in Manila, the Philippines, April 28, 2014. Obama said a 10-year agreement signed Monday to give the US military greater access to Philippine bases will help promote regional security.
Carolyn Kaster/AP


The US and the Philippines signed an agreement Monday which will allow a larger presence of American troops in the military bases of the Asian nation.

After two years of talks, US and Philippine negotiators came to terms on an arrangement that supports President Obama's "pivot" of US military strength in Asia at a time when China’s expanding military presence has raised tension throughout the region.

The United States – which long maintained major bases in the Southeast Asian nation – has been barred for more than two decades from any permanent military presence in the country. Under the new agreement the US military will be able to send ships and planes to Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay Naval Base, former US bases now owned by the Philippines, for both commercial and military use.

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But questions are rising about the deal's constitutionality since the Philippines Constitution, adopted in 1987 a year after the the dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown, specifically bans foreign bases or forces on Philippine soil. In the past, that ban has been circumvented by limiting US forces to a "visiting forces agreement."

Both Obama and Mr. Aquino were careful not to attribute the agreement directly to concerns about China’s territorial claims. They also did not mention the Philippines’ claims to the Paracel islands, some of which are held by China, or China’s takeover of the Scarborough shoal west of Subic Bay, a rich fishing ground that the Philippine says is within its territorial limits.

Shifting national mood

Some Filipino political figures, commentators, and demonstrators took issue with the agreement, viewing it as a step toward bringing back thousands of US troops. Filipino ‘nationalist” groups rose in mass protest against US bases after the People Power revolution drove Ferdinand Marcos from the presidency in early 1986, leading to Corazon Aquino’s election as president and finally to adoption in 1987 of the “anti-base” Constitution.

An influential senator, Miriam Defensor Santiago, predicted that the agreement would “further antagonize China” by placing the Philippines in “the American column instead of the China column.”

Yet many observers believe that the popular mood has shifted substantially. “People ... don’t mind [a US troop presence],” says Carlos Conde, a veteran journalist now with Amnesty International in Manila. Famous Filipino political figures who once campaigned vigorously against the bases are now retired or inactive.

Activists “no longer block US interest in the Senate and elsewhere,” he says. Although “the usual leftist” are “still doing it,” he adds, “if anything, they’re criticized for creating traffic jams every time they hit the streets.”

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