Hello,

I would like to know what is the United States' role on the war on
terror in the Philippines. Is it true that it is explicitly stated in
the Philippines' Constitution that foreign powers, especially the
United States, are not allowed to participate in any battles, and are
only allowed to train the Philippine Armed Forces (and/or are only
there to observe)?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Yes it is true and it is stated in the Philippine Constitution that a
foreign country cannot participate in any battles or just provide
troops unless a treaty is made between both countries.

Here is the text in Article XVIII, Section 25 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

"Section 25. After the expiration in 1991 of the Agreement between the
Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America
concerning military bases, foreign military bases, troops, or
facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a
treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so
requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a
national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty
by the other contracting State."

Article XVIII, Section 25 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution
http://www.chanrobles.com/article18.htm


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Request for Answer Clarification by nomad_gnosis-ga on 05 Jun 2005 11:33 PDT

Does this article supercedes President Bush's Special Access Program
when it comes to fighting members of Al-Quaeda? Or the other way
around?

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 05 Jun 2005 11:56 PDT

Hi again!

In theory, yes it does. The Constitution was adopted in 1987 way
before the war on terrorism  escalated to the heights we have it
today. You can argue as well that each country is sovereign so that
America will have to go through with the existing laws of particular
countries. Again however, one way to go around this was provided by
the same section when it says that a treaty can be made between both
the Philippines and the US to adjust to certain situations.

Thanks!

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Request for Answer Clarification by nomad_gnosis-ga on 05 Jun 2005 13:24 PDT

Thank you for your very well-informed answers. The nature of President
Bush's special access program does away with international law and
other diplomatic niceties to speedily snatch, or assassinate, if
necessary, identified "high-value" Al Qaeda operatives anywhere in the
world.

Such a treaty may or may not be a popular thing in the Philippines and
may take some time for such a thing to be implemented. When it comes
to Al Qaeda, is possible then for the United States to initiate
clandestine operations with or without the knowledge and consent of
the Philippine government? Would the Philippines turn a blind eye or
be fully complicit in such operations? I guess my question is how
plausible is this scenario?

Thank you.

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 05 Jun 2005 13:45 PDT

Actually such scenarios are very possible and may not be just the
subject of conspiracy theorists.

In fact a lot of sectors say that the recently called Balikatan
Exercise is an example of this. The Balikatan Exercise was done in
2003 or 2004. American troops came to the Southern part of the
Philippines or what we call Mindanao. In Mindanao, the Americans came
with the objective of training the Filipino soldiers in counter
terrorism charges. The nationalist and leftist groups in the
Philippines calls it a violation of the constitution but the
government says it is not since they were not doing the war for the
Filipinos but just training them.

So it is not a long shot that if the Philippines and American
government sees a person or a group as a terrorist threat, they will
not hesitate to take action together even in Philippine soil.

Thanks!

Thank you. Excellent answers to all my questions. Thanks you for also
for giving me extra leads to further my research.

Thanks for the very kind words, the 5 stars and for the tip!

:)