Maniolas

Just hours before President Barack Obama touches down in Manila on Monday for his first visit, Philippine and US officials will sign a defense agreement that will allow an enlarged rotational presence of US troops in the Philippines, according to senior Philippine officials who spoke to GMA News Online on Sunday. Both sides worked overtime to present Obama with a concrete foreign policy achievement, after a Japan visit marked by a failure to hammer out a new trade deal with that country. The pact is the latest step in a so-called Asian pivot of US forces as concerns mount over China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea. Finalized after eight rounds of talks that began in August 2013, the new accord grants US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities, the right to construct facilities, and pre-position equipment, aircraft and vessels. But the pact rules out permanent basing, the sources said. The Philippine Constitution bans foreign military bases in the country unless covered by a treaty. The signing of the accord, called Enhanced Defense Cooperation (EDCA), will take place a few hours before Obama’s arrival in Manila, said the sources, who declined to be identified as they are not officially designated to speak to the media. With an initial term of 10 years, EDCA will be signed as an executive agreement, meaning it will not require congressional ratification because it is not a treaty, sources explained. There is no definite number on the visiting troops, sources noted, saying their Read More …

President Barack Obama, center, walks with Malaysian King Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, second from right, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, third from right, as he participates in an arrival ceremony in Parliament Square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, April 26, 2014. AP KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — President Barack Obama is hopscotching through China’s neighborhood with a carefully calibrated message for Beijing, trying both to counter and court. During visits to US allies, Obama has signaled that American military power can blunt Chinese aggression in the Asia-Pacific region, even as he urges Beijing to use its growing clout to help resolve international disputes with Russia and North Korea. The dual tracks underscore Beijing’s outsized importance to Obama’s four-country swing through Asia, even though China is absent from his itinerary. The president opened a long-awaited visit to Malaysia on Saturday, following stops in Japan and South Korea, and ahead of a visit to the Philippines. On a hot and muggy Sunday morning, the president padded through the National Mosque of Malaysia in black socks, removing his shoes in keeping with protocol, and stopped for a few moments in a prayer room with his head bowed. Obama’s trip comes at a tense time for the region, where China’s aggressive stance in territorial disputes has its smaller neighbors on edge. There also are continued questions about the White House’s commitment to a greater US focus on Asia. In an affirmation, Obama is expected to sign a security agreement with the Philippines clearing Read More …

Philippine Daily Inquirer 8:23 am | Sunday, April 27th, 2014 INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Three of the senators who rejected the renewal of the Philippine-US bases treaty in 1991 on Saturday expressed concern over the constitutionality of the new Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation (AEDC) that is expected to be signed between the two countries during the visit of US President Barack Obama this week. In a statement, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. and former Senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada demanded that the agreement be scrutinized by both the Senate and the public. The statement was also signed by several lawyers and civil society members. “The AEDC as reported by media threatens to reverse the historic Senate vote that removed the US bases in 1991,” read the statement signed by Guingona, Saguisag and Tañada, who along with nine other senators voted down a motion to renew the bases treaty 23 years ago. The Aquino administration will sign the new agreement increasing the number of US troops in the country amid rising tensions with China. “We call on our people to be vigilant, defend and uphold Philippine sovereign-ty, whether against China’s incursions or the United States of America’s increased military presence in Philippine territory,” the statement said. The other signatories to the statement included religious and civil society leaders Mary John Mananzan, Pacifico Agabin, Ricardo N. Fernandez, Hesiquio Mallillin, Fulgencio Factoran, Evalyn Ursua, Harry Roque, Carlos Montemayor Jr., Roland Simbulan, Maria Socorro I. Diokno, Bibeth Orteza and  Carol Araullo. Read More …

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Saturday about “provocative” Russian troop movements along Ukraine’s border, a US official said. In a morning call with his counterpart, Kerry also urged full Russian support for efforts to free a mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe held hostage by pro-Moscow militants in the flashpoint city of Slavyansk. The top US diplomat “expressed continued concern that Russia’s provocative troop movements on Ukraine’s border, its support for separatists and its inflammatory rhetoric are undermining stability, security and unity in Ukraine,” the senior State Department official said. He also “urged Russian support without preconditions for the efforts of the OSCE and the Government of Ukraine to liberate the Vienna Document inspectors and their Ukrainian guides who are being held hostage by pro-Russian separatists in Slovyansk.” Kerry’s comments came as the Group of Seven top economies and the European Union signaled they would step up economic pressure on Moscow early next week amid fears Russia was preparing an invasion of eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk meanwhile claimed Russia violated his country’s airspace seven times overnight with an aim “to provoke” it into starting a war. But Moscow denied any transgression by its warplanes, with Lavrov calling for “urgent measures” to de-escalate the crisis that has plunged East-West relations to their lowest point since the Cold War. — Agence France-Presse