10 SEPTEMBER 1991,
NOTES COMPILED BY GRAPHIC NEWS ©

U.S. BASES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Following yesterday’s vote by the Philippine Senate foreign relations committee to reject a new military bases agreement, the Bush administration is talking with several members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as Australia, South Korea and Japan about an expanded military presence around the Pacific.

ASEAN is made up of the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Monday’s vote rejected by 12-11 a proposal to extend the lease on Subic Bay Naval Base for a further ten years at a rent of $203 million per annum. There are 6,000 U.S. personnel stationed at the base. Subic Bay also employs 14,000 Filipinos. A further 2,000 U.S. servicemen are stationed elsewhere in the Philippines.

The U.S. has already announced that it is giving up Clark AFB which was badly damaged by the eruptions at Mount Pinatubo earlier this year.

The Philippine Senate is expected to cast a final vote by the entire 23 member chamber by September 16, the date when America’s current lease on it’s bases runs out. A two-thirds majority is needed to ratify the agreement while only eight votes are needed to reject it.

The Philippine Vice-President, Salvador Laurel, has warned that rejection of the new proposals could generate unrest within the country. Senator Aquilino Pimentel has said that extremists within the military, which depends heavily on U.S. military aid, could launch a coup if the final vote goes against the U.S.

The Philippines could lose $800 million a year in compensation, trade concessions and other assistance such as the restructuring of its $5.3 billion commercial bank debt.

Sources: AP, World Service of the BBC, International Institute of Strategic Studies