Text fwd: Philippines: Lawmakers, Activists Push To End US Military Pact

* informed in StopNATO*

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3123026166
ADN Kronos International (Italy)
March 18, 2009
Philippines: Campaigners push to end military pact with US

Manila - Lawmakers and activists who oppose the Philippines' controversial military pact with the United States that has allowed a US marine convicted of rape to avoid jail pending an appeal have vowed to continue their drive to scrap the treaty.
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The rape has become the rallying cry for a wide coalition of left-wing organisations in the Philippines, as well as former and current lawmakers, opposed to the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The VFA allows US soldiers to be stationed in the Philippines for military training, but does not fully clarify who is responsible if they commit a crime.

Smith is currently in the custody of the US Embassy in Manila, although a Supreme Court ordered last month to transfer him to a Filipino jail. The two countries are negotiating a new agreement.

Former Senate President Jovito Salonga and academic Harry Roque, two of the leaders of the anti-VFA movement, said that they do not resent Nicole for entering into an out-of-court settlement, but that this will not affect their anti-VFA petition.

"We filed our petition separate and distinct from Nicole in our capacity as citizens suing to impugn an agreement that violates our constitution", they said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Philippine Constitution does not allow other countries to have long-term military bases in the country, and the last US bases there closed in the early 1990s.

Current senators Francis Escudero and Rodolfo Biazon have also stated that the controversy over the VFA goes beyond Nicole's case, and attorney Neri Culminares, secretary general of the National Union of People's Lawyers, has announced that his group will soon stage a protest outside the US Embassy in Manila.
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