ARROYO GOVT DARED TO EXPLAIN BASIS FOR PRESENCE
OF AMERICAN TROOPS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the Arroyo government to explain the legal basis for the continuing presence of some 600 American troops in the country even as he acknowledged the United States' contributions in the campaign against terrorism here.

Pimentel said it is not clear whether the deployment of US troops - called Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines -- in Mindanao is by virtue of the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement or any other security accord between the US and the Philippines.

"The US is our ally. But if they have troops who are deployed in the country, they should not take part in combat operations against insurgents and other criminal elements here," he said.

Under the Mutual Defense Treaty, Pimentel said the Philippine government can call on the US for military assistance in the form of troops, equipment and logistics to fight a foreign invasion and other security threats from another country.

He said that any direct US military intervention in the internal insurgency problem such as allowing American troops to fight side by side with Filipinos against Abu Sayyaf terrorists, will be in contravention of the MDT and VFA and a breach of the national sovereignty.

"If we cannot defend our independence and have to rely on foreign assistance, including the participation of foreign troops to lick the insurgency and terrorism problem, then we are not worthy being called a sovereign nation," Pimentel said.

That explains, he said, why the Constitution bans any foreign country from permanently stationing troops or maintaining military bases or installations in the country.

Pimentel noted that Washington began sending American troops to the Philippines as part of its global counter-terrorism role following the terrorist bombings of the Twin Tower in New York on September 11, 2001.

He stressed that the VFA allows the entry of American troops but only for a limited period to conduct joint military exercises with their Filipino counterparts and in accordance with the Balikatan terms of reference.

"Whatever is the basis for the American military presence here, the bottomline is that they cannot go to the battlefields and engage local insurgents," Pimentel said.