While the nation is engrossed again on the subject of a possible repeat of RP-US Military Bases in connection with the issue of our claims of some of the off-shore islands in the Philippine Sea against China and the present global concern on terrorism, there is another problem in PhiIippine American treaties to which I shall invite the attention of our policy-makers. It is the matter of integration and systematic correlation of all our military agreements with the USA, including the Military Assistance Agreement of March 21 1947, and the Mutual Defense Treaty of August 30, 1951. These agreements as they are at present worded, although they touch upon the same subject, simply do not jibe, nor do they complement one another. For example, on the duration or the time within which the treaty lasts, Article 3 and Article 4 of the agreement between the government of the Republic of the Philippines and the government of the United States on military assistance to the Philippines provides:
“Article 3. If the government of the Republic of Philippines should desire that this agreement be extended beyond the stipulated period, it shall make a written proposal to that effect at least one year before the expiration of this Agreement.”
“Article 4. This Agreement may be terminated before the expiration of the period of five years prescribed in Article 2, or before the expiration of an extension authorized in Article 3, by either government, subject to three month’s written notice to the other government”, and on the same subject matter of duration, Article VIII of the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States stipulates:
“This treaty shall remain in force indefinitely. Either party may terminate it one year after notice has been given to the other party:
Therefore, one can read very clearly that both the RP US Mutual Assistance Agreement and the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty are terminable upon notice of one year by either party. I suggest that the other two agreements — that is, the RP-US Mutual Assistance Agreement and the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty — should also be terminated. All we need to do now is to serve notice so that these last two aforementioned agreements will terminate one year after the giving of notice.
Anyway, there is not much love lost for we have seen in the particular case of the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty how we have bound ourselves to the United States with all the burden of military and naval bases and forces of occupation, yet the United States has not bound herself to anything in our favor in case of an attack save that of resorting to her “constitutional processes although, truth to tell, what exposes us to an attack will be the presence of her bases and military forces in our territory.
The fact of the matter is that, in my judgment, in today’s international politics once an alliance is made with a country, certain undesirable and oppressive policies develop which are logical extensions of alliances, and which, far from promoting security, tend to increase tensions and to aggravate the power struggle. The first principle of international politics is the political and legal reality of the sovereign state. A state has to be considered as completely independent and, within the territory under its control, therefore, a sovereign state must be acknowledged as supreme and not subject to foreign control. The very essence of independence, in fact, is freedom from alien control and foreign dictation. We must, therefore, postulate a system in which we claim certain national rights, and in observing the same rights of others, adopt policies which avoid retaliatory and aggressive responses by others. A system in which it is policy, even the policy of major powers, not to intervene, to influence, to formalliances, nor to assert policies, in ways which might limit the sovereign powers and independence of others. A government, in short, has a right to resist interference from other governments, and in so far as it succeeds in this endeavor it remains the legitimate government.
We must, in the main, rely on ourselves. The bottom line is a competent government that believes in the truth and worth of our independence.
For in the words of the Sublime Paraplegic, the noble Apolinario Mabini, who was the Brains of the Philippine Revolution of 1896,--- a declaration he uttered in the fin de siècle of the 19th century:
“Strive for the independence of your country, because you alone can have a real interest in her aggrandizement and ennoblement, since here independence will mean your own freedom, her aggrandizement your own perfection, and her ennoblement your own glory and immortality.”
“Pagpilitan mo ang pagsasarili ng iyong bayan”
“Article 3. If the government of the Republic of Philippines should desire that this agreement be extended beyond the stipulated period, it shall make a written proposal to that effect at least one year before the expiration of this Agreement.”
“Article 4. This Agreement may be terminated before the expiration of the period of five years prescribed in Article 2, or before the expiration of an extension authorized in Article 3, by either government, subject to three month’s written notice to the other government”, and on the same subject matter of duration, Article VIII of the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States stipulates:
“This treaty shall remain in force indefinitely. Either party may terminate it one year after notice has been given to the other party:
Therefore, one can read very clearly that both the RP US Mutual Assistance Agreement and the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty are terminable upon notice of one year by either party. I suggest that the other two agreements — that is, the RP-US Mutual Assistance Agreement and the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty — should also be terminated. All we need to do now is to serve notice so that these last two aforementioned agreements will terminate one year after the giving of notice.
Anyway, there is not much love lost for we have seen in the particular case of the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty how we have bound ourselves to the United States with all the burden of military and naval bases and forces of occupation, yet the United States has not bound herself to anything in our favor in case of an attack save that of resorting to her “constitutional processes although, truth to tell, what exposes us to an attack will be the presence of her bases and military forces in our territory.
The fact of the matter is that, in my judgment, in today’s international politics once an alliance is made with a country, certain undesirable and oppressive policies develop which are logical extensions of alliances, and which, far from promoting security, tend to increase tensions and to aggravate the power struggle. The first principle of international politics is the political and legal reality of the sovereign state. A state has to be considered as completely independent and, within the territory under its control, therefore, a sovereign state must be acknowledged as supreme and not subject to foreign control. The very essence of independence, in fact, is freedom from alien control and foreign dictation. We must, therefore, postulate a system in which we claim certain national rights, and in observing the same rights of others, adopt policies which avoid retaliatory and aggressive responses by others. A system in which it is policy, even the policy of major powers, not to intervene, to influence, to formalliances, nor to assert policies, in ways which might limit the sovereign powers and independence of others. A government, in short, has a right to resist interference from other governments, and in so far as it succeeds in this endeavor it remains the legitimate government.
We must, in the main, rely on ourselves. The bottom line is a competent government that believes in the truth and worth of our independence.
For in the words of the Sublime Paraplegic, the noble Apolinario Mabini, who was the Brains of the Philippine Revolution of 1896,--- a declaration he uttered in the fin de siècle of the 19th century:
“Strive for the independence of your country, because you alone can have a real interest in her aggrandizement and ennoblement, since here independence will mean your own freedom, her aggrandizement your own perfection, and her ennoblement your own glory and immortality.”
“Pagpilitan mo ang pagsasarili ng iyong bayan”