Reject PH-Australia pact, Senate urged

The Philippines-Australia military deal, known as the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (Sovfa), has been postponed until late July for final ratification by the Senate (Inquirer, 6/11/12). The Sovfa, as with the US VFA, enables Australian troops to conduct military exercises in the Philippines.

Seven senators voted against it on the day it was brought for ratification, but 13 senators of the 21 present supported it. Three more votes are needed for the required two-thirds of Senate membership to ratify the Sovfa.

Australia is an important ally and a “junior partner” of the United States. Its engagement in Afghanistan is just the latest in a long line of US-led wars of aggression that Australia has signed up to, which includes Iraq (twice), Somalia, Vietnam and Korea. In the South Pacific, Australia is a regional economic power and its powerful mining corporations operate with impunity and little regard for local indigenous communities, the workers or the environment.

The Australia-US military alliance has shifted into high gear along with the US shift to increased militarization of Asia-Pacific. Australia has allowed 250 US marines to be stationed in Darwin this year, increasing to 2,500 by 2016.

The Sovfa should be scrutinized for its potential violation of Philippine sovereignty, as well as the social and environmental costs of having foreign troops conducting prolonged military operations in our country. The Sovfa and the US VFA are similar in many aspects. The Philippines cannot exercise primary jurisdiction on a criminal case if the Australian side claims that an action was carried out in performance of an “official duty.” Unlike the US VFA, however, the Philippines apparently has the final say on whether an action falls under “official duty.”

But the trial of US Marines accused of raping a Filipino woman in November 2005 is a case in point. A Philippine court found one US Marine guilty and ordered him imprisoned in a Philippine jail. US and Philippine authorities invoked the VFA’s provisions to defy the judge’s order. The convicted rapist was promptly spirited out of the Philippine jail and put in a cell inside the US embassy in Manila. This is clearly a case of outright violation of our own laws. We have no reason to believe that the experience will be any different under the Australian Sovfa.

The Philippine government’s support for the Sovfa is part and parcel of its support for US strategic interests in the region, under the misguided view that this coincides with our national interests. But the government best serves the national interests by pursuing an independent foreign policy in keeping with the Constitution. The Senate must realize this and vote to reject Sovfa.

—REI MELENCIO,

international desk,

Partido Lakas ng Masa,

[email protected]