MERGED: All About RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty/ VFA-MLSA and Related Issues

[black_mamba]

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please bring them back here......!

[SPRINGFIELD_XD_40]

The closest one of being a base in the Philippines is the VFA OFFICE in Roxas City .

Makita gyud nimo ang quality of life nila ( employees ) although professionals sila , it didnt require them to be American citizens . Ultimo sikyo nila , Glock ang sidearm hehehe .

[black_mamba]

unsa nman update ani? hehe

[Deadstring67]

i support this... nindot unta og part ta sa US.. sayang kaau ang opportunity sauna...

[Deadstring67]

hala rally pamo dha.. basaha lng ni na news pra mka amgo mo ani..basin nagtoo mo na masulbad nsad ni sa rally ang china..


Chinese jets intruded into Philippine space - military

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday (May 19) said it was validating reports that Chinese jet fighters had entered the country's airspace around the disputed Spratly chain near Palawan province but conceded it had no capability to detect and intercept the alleged intrusions.

Philippine military chief Lt. Gen. Eduardo Oban said the military was checking the intelligence reports, but admitted that the AFP does not have the capability to detect or monitor such intrusions, and even if it does, it has no power to intercept them anyway.

"In terms of capability, No. 1, we don't actually have the detection and monitoring capability, we don't have radars to check if indeed they intruded into our airspace," he said.

"No. 2, if indeed we have that capability, we need interdiction. We also have no capability to interdict or to intercept, which is why the first option is to lodge a diplomatic protest," said Oban, who spoke at a Communication and News Exchange Forum sponsored by the Philippine Information Agency.

The AFP chief said he hoped that in time, "we can go in this direction, towards territorial defense."

"We need to come up with an effective detection and monitoring system most particularly in the Palawan area where we have vast maritime resources to protect," Oban said.

A military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the unidentified aircraft was observed at an altitude of about 5,000 feet.

The aircraft was spotted by the Filipino pilots of two OV-10 light attack and observation planes which were on a routine patrol mission near the Reed Bank, part of the Kalayaan group in the Spratly chain claimed by the Philippines.

"There was no provocation. They just flew over," the officer said.

He added that at that distance, there was no easy way to ascertain if the aircraft was indeed Chinese.

Ethan Sun, the Chinese Embassy spokesperson, said he could not comment until he had verified the source of the report.

The latest Chinese incursion into the Philippine-claimed area of the Spratlys occurred just two days before the visit here of China's defense minister, Gen. Liang Guanglie.

A Chinese Embassy statement said Liang will be making an "official goodwill visit" from May 21 to 25 at the invitation of defence secretary Voltaire Gazmin. He will call on Philippine President Aquino and hold talks with Gazmin, the statement said.

Oban could not say if the Spratly issue would be raised during closed-door meetings between Liang and defence officials.

The Spratlys archipelago, a reputedly oil-rich chain of tiny islands and reefs, is claimed wholly or partly by the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Brunei, Viet Nam and Taiwan.

China has insisted it has sovereignty over the entire archipelago - which the Chinese call the Nansha islands but which everyone else refer to as the Spratlys - and is moved to "enforce" its claim from time to time by flexing its military muscle in the areas claimed by its rivals.

In March, two Chinese vessels reportedly harassed a Philippine exploration ship at the Reed Bank, prompting the AFP to send planes and Coast Guard ships to the area.

Last month, the Philippines said it had lodged a formal protest with the United Nations over China's claim to the entire Spratly group and adjacent South China Sea waters, particularly the "nine-dotted line", a map attached to a 2009 Chinese letter that delineated China's claim.

Oban said the AFP was perfectly aware of China's military buildup, which he described as a factor in China's growing economic power.

But he stressed that he would not consider China's recent actions in the Spratlys as "bullying".

"At the AFP, we just do the mandate that's given to us. We patrol our territorial waters to make sure that we protect our maritime resources and that no one enters our territory and violates our maritime laws," he said.

Oban said the only way to ease tensions in the South China Sea would be for all claimants to abide by the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which he said even China favored.

In 2002, countries with overlapping claims to the Spratly islands signed the DOC which was to serve as a nonbinding guide on how to tackle the disputes.

According to the Chinese Embassy, Manila is the third leg of Liang's Southeast Asian trip that includes Singapore and Indonesia.

The visit is expected to further advance Chinese-Philippine relations, "specifically military exchanges and pragmatic cooperation, thus enriching and enhancing the strategic and cooperative relationship between our two countries," the embassy said.

Liang, a member of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central Committee and fourth in rank in the CPC's Central Military Commission, oversees the day-to-day operations of the People's Liberation Army, according to the defence department.

COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK

commies on the move again... samot ka pobre ang pinas ani nila...

[Albrecht]

commies on the move again... samot ka pobre ang pinas ani nila...

duh ana man jud na sila.. pakitang taw daun maski ang uban nila nga gipangrallyhan walay tumong.. mgmaru2 pajud ang uban ngara jud sa colon aron ingnon na daghan taw nanunga..

[YellowSubmarine]

@YELLOWSUBMARINE ...

That is the COMMANDER in CHIEF of the ARMED FORCES of the PHILIPPINES .

You should start respecting people otherwise , if its not nice to say just STFU .

......Aye!...........

[gareb]

(to continue...)

True and that sheer of ignorance should also be fixed . I have said this because its so funny to see and think about these very ANTI AMERICAN PEOPLE who uses WESTERNIZED PRODUCTS , still SPEAKS ENGLISH up to this date and most of all , mo bali any given moment hatagan nimo ug chance to MIGRATE in the USA.

oh some people are shallow; we have to grant that those people do exist. easily labeled as 'anti-americans' an over-arching, 'catch-all' phrase that is easy to remember but doesn't really help much in figuring our the why's of everything. it is always easy to generalize and label, anyway.

one thing that should be remembered is how to differentiate between the American people's ideals, vis a vis its government's actions. after all, this is not a 'cultural war' where we have to reject everything that's western or american, but a political conflict of interest. the world is already a very cosmopolitan place, despite of its differences; you cannot stop culture from bleeding into each other.

Nagpaka lawm lang gyud ta . Leave that to the local / national government . US Military bases presence afaik are very much apolitical sa atong side . Our perceived help man gud , correct me if I am wrong kay it will accord us payment of our debt , better lives to all the FIlipinos , zero employment rate etc which are all IMPOSSIBLE and that is our demand because we all know it cant be met so does Uncle Sam is left with a choice ??

i have to disagree. on the contrary, it is a political issue in the sense that it is an issue of how power is used to expand and maintain influence, as well as trample those who oppose it.

the perceived kind of 'help' that the US military presence provides is usually propagated as a.) a deterrent against Chinese aggression, Islamic terrorists, etc., b.) military training and equipment, c.)medical outreach, d.)others. most of the time, not only are these 'help' bogus or simply sycophantic lip service, they do more damage to prop up unpopular regimes such as GMA's.

what we do not normally see are the pressure politics that are being played, largely by the US, for the Philippine government to submit to its demands, mainly in the economic arena. a superficial analysis does not reveal how the US military presence is just part of a wider agenda for political and economic control.

[gareb]

VFA is needed because its more than rest and relaxation but the mere fact of also giving something to the AFP in terms of training , improved technological warfare and humanitarian services which we can easily say sugar coating lang hehehe

not too much technology is shared, obviously, if this is indeed a preparation of an aggressive China. what it is really a military training to prevent the country from imploding under the weight of internal armed conflicts (CPP-NPA-NDF and the MILF). everybody has to agree that the landed elite who now wield power would never allow losing what position they have to these armed insurgencies. under the guise of 'national security' which most swallowed hook-line and sinker, deals were made to protect their interests and the US troops were allowed back into philippine soil.

Sa MLSA ... I am not familiar with it but it sounds and looks like a " ghost or cyber " base which is totally different from the actual base with infrastructures.

which makes it even worse, because it is not permanent. this gives more license for it to be everywhere. essentially every island in this country can be a 'temporary base', unless grave opposition is mounted by civilians and the media. unlike clark and subic where the bases have definite boundaries, the boundaries that MLSA sets is synonymous with the country's borders.

Question lang nako ... if the case sa MLSA is that Philippines is working it out , are we that competent enough to supply such amenities like ammunitions , repair and calibration ?

same thing with the kind of supposed employment that the bases brought along; i do not think there are a lot who are qualified to provide such sevices, much less the actual infrastacture and materials for such. this makes everything bogus as it is; showing that it is not "logistics" and "suppies" that MLSA is after, but wider access to areas outside the usual perimeters of the old subic and clark bases.

Sa Philippines , I would understand also the issue here , heck I dont want to see Americans exploiting our women since mao ni ang common na crime mahitabo.

the Philippine experience is always a unique case. unlike the experience in Okinawa, the accused was detained inside the US Embassy while trial was going on. after the conviction, instead of placing him in the Bilibid, the Arroyo government via Romulo and the US ambassador Kenny made an agreement to house Smith inside the US Embassy - a clear violation of how laws are suppose to be implemented in these cases, since the US Embassy isn't suppose to be a jail for American nationals convicted in Philippine criminal courts.

this what precisely what everybody was afraid of the very day the letters of the VFA were made public. and it happened. since the case has become a precedent for similar future cases, it is very likely that the same scenario will happen for a crime even more serious than what allegedly traspired.

The annual lease alone is a very big chunk na nawala sa national budget in repaying the nations debt . Regarding sa side effects which are probably the hazardous material that were neglected is nothing different when you reside in Naga or in Lutopan where these are places known to be polluted of chemicals . I dont really see any huge difference .

the lease is considerable, yes, but i think it is something that we can surely live without. there are other solutions for repaying the national debt, albeit tough ones.

whether or not there is a huge difference is beside the point. the point is that these chemicals do not belong there and should have not been left there/placed there in the first place. somebody should be responsible, whether it be Kepco, Atlas, the Philippine government, or the US government. someone should clean it up, because it does not go away even if we dismiss it from our thoughts.

Its the locals who infected these sailors .

you are probably right. but that does not really discourage the sailors much, does it?

I have encountered these articles way back but didnt focus on it . What I am wondering though is , unsay gibuhat sa atong government ? Specially sa term ni Erap ?

oh nothing that really made much of a dent. what happens is that the cancer rate in those areas are still higher than normal for the past few years. that should say a lot.

Philippine Senate Committee Report No. 237
CBCP Statement on Toxic Contamination
The Human Face of U.S. Military Contamination at Clark Air Base
UN-CHR: Impact of Toxic Waste in Vieques, Puerto Rico and in the Philippines

[kid_lou]

Ok ko ani..way problema...Welcome Back Joe...hehehe