Philippine-U.S. Security Relations

Order Code RS20697

October 10, 2000

CRS Report for Congress

Received through the CRS Web

Philippine-U.S. Security Relations

Larry Niksch

Specialist in Asian Affairs

Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division

Summary

In 1999, the Philippines and the United States reached agreements to revive the

security relationship, which had declined following the U.S. withdrawal from military

bases in 1992. The two governments concluded a Visiting Forces Agreement that will

allow U.S. military personnel to enter the Philippines for joint training and other

cooperative activities. The two governments also agreed to formulate a new U.S.

military support program for the Philippines. The future of the security relationship will

be affected by several issues such as the Philippine-China dispute in the South China Sea,

the Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines, and by the degree of effectiveness of

the Philippine’s own defense buildup program. U.S. policy decisions related to these

issues will include the size and scope of a military support program, the role of the South

China Sea in the U.S. defense commitment to the Philippines, and the scope of U.S.

diplomacy concerning the Philippines’ security problems. This report will be updated

periodically.

Until 1992, the Philippines and the United States had an intimate security relationship

based on a 1947 military bases agreement and a 1952 Mutual Defense Treaty. In the

treaty, each party promises to “act to meet the common danger” of an armed attack on the

other party “in accordance with its constitutional process.” The treaty specifies that an

armed attack includes “an armed attack on the metropolitan territory of either of the

parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific, or on its armed

forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.”

The security relationship was frayed in 1991 when the Philippine Senate voted to

reject ratification of a new U.S.-Philippines agreement to extend U.S. rights to military

bases beyond 1992, the expiration date of the 1947 agreement. As a result, the United

States withdrew from its bases by December 1992, including its huge naval base at Subic

Bay. The security relationship was damaged further by cuts in U.S. military assistance to

the Philippines and by a Philippine Supreme Court ruling in December 1996 that executive

orders by President Fidel Ramos to continue provisions of the U.S.-Philippine Status of

Forces Agreement (which also expired in 1992) were unconstitutional. The ruling ended

the legal status of U.S. military personnel in the Philippines, and the Clinton

Administration and the Pentagon responded by ending U.S.-Philippine joint military

exercises and barring U.S. military personnel from entering the Philippines.

Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Visiting Forces Agreement and New Military Support Program

U.S. and Philippine responses to the Supreme Court ruling constituted the first step

toward restoring a functioning security relationship. They negotiated a Visiting Forces

Agreement (VFA), signed on February 10, 1998. The VFA restored a legal status for U.S.

military personnel in the Philippines, including the nature of criminal jurisdiction over

American military personnel accused of committing crime–a sensitive issue in negotiating

the VFA. The Philippine Senate ratified it on May 27, 1999, by a vote of 18 to 5. The

first joint military exercise on Philippine soil was held in January 2000.

A second step came in an agreement to begin a U.S. military support program for

the Philippines. Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Philippine Secretary of Defense

Orlando Mercado announced on October 3, 2000, “an exchange of defense experts to

facilitate, coordinate and assist in meeting the equipment requirements of the AFP”

(Armed Forces of the Philippines). This “defense assessment team” is to clarify the

equipment needs of the AFP and to “set forth priorities” for an American assistance

program. 1 It is scheduled to submit initial findings in October 2000.

Issues in a Renewed Security Relationship

The Philippine-U.S. agreements are within the context of at least three related

security issues that will require Manila and Washington to make policy decisions in the

course of implementing the VFA and the plan for U.S. military support.

The Form and Scope of Any New U.S. Military Support Program. The

Philippines’ main motive for seeking U.S. aid was its confrontation with China in the

disputed South China Sea. In 1995, China, which claims the entire South China Sea basin,

occupied Mischief Reef in the Philippine-claimed area of the Spratly Islands. Since then,

the Philippine navy has confronted the Chinese when it appeared that China was seeking

to expand its positions in the disputed area. Incidents have occurred in which the

Philippine navy has fired warning shots and has rammed Chinese vessels. The Philippine

government thus has sought U.S. assistance to strengthen AFP naval and air capabilities

in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, however, has competing defense priorities related to the escalation

of hostilities with Muslim insurgents in the southern Philippines in 2000. The insurgents

seek independence for the Muslim regions of the Philippines. The heavy fighting on

Mindanao against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the kidnaping of foreigners by

Abu Sayyuf, a smaller Muslim group, appears to have shifted Philippine government

priorities away from the South China Sea. By spring 2000, the AFP had deployed over

110,000 troops against the Muslims, 60 percent of total AFP strength.2

These defense priorities contrast with the weaknesses of the AFP and the lack of

progress of the Philippine government in implementing a 15 year military modernization

1

Text of Joint Press Conference of Secretary of Defense Cohen and Secretary of National Defense

Mercado, October 3, 2000.

2

GMA Television (Manila) report, May 31, 2000.

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program, which it announced in 1995. The Philippine Air Force’s combat assets consist

of ten F-5 fighters over 30 years old. Naval vessels date back to World War II except for

three gunboats purchased from Hong Kong in 1997. Logistics capabilities to service

equipment is viewed by experts as deficient. The modernization program, estimated to

cost $8.2 billion, stalled after 1997 when President Estrada imposed budget austerity

measures, including constraints on defense spending. In 1999, the Philippines spent 52

billion pesos ($1.27 billion) on defense, 8.8 percent of total expenditures.3

The nature of Philippine defense needs and the uncertainty over the Philippine

government’s commitment to strengthening the AFP appear to create two apparent

options in fashioning a U.S. military aid program. One is a program to create a specific

naval and air force structure that would give the AFP the capability to carry out defined

military missions in the South China Sea. Senator Rodolfo Biazon, Chairman of the

Philippine Congress’ Committee on National Defense and Security and a respected former

Marine General, has recommended this kind of program. 4 Such a program would be

analogous, in a smaller scale, to the U.S.-Japan defense program of the 1980s under which

Japan undertook specific anti-Soviet naval and air missions in a geographically defined

region in the Northwest Pacific and developed a force structure featuring agreed-upon

types of weapons and equipment. Military missions likely would include intelligence

gathering and surveillance; moving troops (Philippine Marines) to occupy islands and

atolls; mounting a credible show of force at a particular time and place if it appeared that

the Chinese were about to occupy another position; and successfully engaging the Chinese

navy and air force if China resorted to military force.

Several types of U.S. weapons would be important in building up AFP capabilities

to perform such missions: surveillance, strike, and transport aircraft; fast attack patrol

naval craft; frigates armed with surface to surface and surface to air missiles; amphibious

landing craft; and long range troop carrying helicopters. Such a force would not

necessarily have to be large, given the limited number of islands and atolls in dispute and

limits on China’s ability to deploy military forces hundreds of miles from the Chinese

mainland. Nevertheless, it would have to be well armed, well trained, with an effective

logistics component. Because of the AFP’s deficiencies in all these areas, the United

States undoubtedly would have to assist in training for operations and logistics.

The second apparent option is a broader program aimed at a general improvement

in all services of the AFP. Such a program would give more emphasis to supplying the

Philippine army, the largest of the AFP’s services. The program would be orientated more

towards the war with Muslim insurgents. U.S. priorities to assist the Philippine army no

doubt would include transportation aircraft, troop carrying helicopters, naval supply

vessels, armored personnel carriers, infantry weapons, ammunition, and medical

equipment. According to informed sources, the AFP is pressing the United States to

provide such support. Secretary of Defense William Cohen stated on his trip to the

3

The Philippines. Foreign Military Markets: Asia, Australia, and Pacific Rim, April 2000.

Simon, Sheldon. Asian Armed Forces: Internal Tasks and Capabilities. Seattle, The National

Bureau of Asian Research, 2000. P. 20-22.

4

Manila Urged to Use US Aid Against PRC, Not Insurgents. Philippine Star (internet version),

March 14, 2000.

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Philippines in September 2000 that the United States could assist the AFP to develop

counter-terrorism units.5

Unlike option one, the program would not seek to create a new, distinct force

structure with the exception of counter-terrorism units. Decisions would be more on an

on-going basis depending on the nature of the fighting on Mindanao and the needs of the

Philippine army. This program, too, would appear to require a direct role for U.S. military

personnel in training and logistics. Knowledgeable U.S. sources emphasized the need of

this kind of U.S. role in developing an AFP capability to service and maintain equipment.

The effectiveness of any U.S. military support program will depend on the

commitment of the Philippine government and the AFP to support it. According to U.S.

officials, the Philippines would have to buy U.S. military equipment either on a commercial

basis or on a credit basis through the U.S. foreign military sales program. This would

entail a major financial expenditure for the Philippines. Other experts assert that the

Philippines could take much greater advantage of the U.S. Excess Defense Articles

program and acquire U.S. weaponry, including fighter aircraft and patrol boats and

frigates, at no cost or at a depreciated price.6 Regardless of the form of acquisition,

sizeable Philippine government funds also would be required for training, logistics and

maintenance of acquired weaponry, infrastructure, and possibly new military bases. The

AFP would need to commit high level, competent officers to administer the program.

Philippine priorities and ideas concerning the type of program would be important to dispel

perceptions within Filipino political elites that the program was U.S.-imposed. Philippine

congressional support for the program would be essential.

The U.S. Defense Commitment. The renewal of the security relationship has raised

anew questions concerning the U.S. defense commitment to the Philippines and the U.S.

military role in the Philippines. There has been much discussion over whether the 1952

Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) covers the positions in the South China Sea in dispute

between the Philippines and China (Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal). Successive

U.S. administrations have stated that Article IV of the MDT, calling for responses to an

armed attack on either of the signatories, does not cover the Spratly Islands;7 but U.S.

statements are more vague regarding Scarborough Shoal. U.S. officials, however, have

stated that the United States opposes any country taking unilateral actions to assert

territorial claims and that the United States would consult with the Philippines “on what

action to take” if Philippines military forces in the Spratlys were attacked.8 Article III of

the MDT provides for consultations if either signatory is threatened by armed attack.

Philippine government statements have indicated an acceptance of the U.S. position but

5

News Briefing by Secretary of Defense William Cohen, September 14, 2000.

6

U.S. Congressional Research Service. Excess Defense Articles: Grants and Sales to Allies and

Friendly Countries. By (name redacted). CRS Report RS20428. January 10, 2000. P. 4-5.

Statistics since 1995 show that the Philippines is not among the numerous countries that have made

significant acquisitions of U.S. weaponry under the Excess Defense Articles program.

7

Pablo, Carlito. Cohen Says US Defending RP Not Automatic. Philippine Daily Inquirer,

August 4, 1998. P. 1.

8

Ibid. Joint Press Conference of Secretary of Defense Cohen and Secretary of National Defense

Mercado, October 3, 1999.

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also that the Philippines might invoke the MDT in case of a Chinese attack in the South

China Sea in order to activate Article III regarding consultations.9

Statements regarding the defense commitment and U.S. military activities in or near

the South China Sea also appear aimed at deterring Chinese aggressiveness. The first

U.S.-Philippine military exercise after Philippine ratification of the VFA took place on

Palawan, a main Philippine island near the disputed area in the Spratlys. Admiral Joseph

Prueher, Commander of U.S. Pacific Forces, stated in February 1999 that the U.S. navy

would make “a little bigger show of our presence there [South China Sea] than we have

in the past.”10 At that time, U.S. military intelligence officials began to disclose publicly

details of Chinese military activities in the South China Sea and provided this information

to the Philippine government.11 The Palawan exercise and these other U.S. activities have

drawn Chinese attention. Chinese officials criticized the Palawan exercise, and they have

warned Southeast Asian countries against strengthening military cooperation with the

United States.12

The MDT does not cover insurrection within the Philippines. However, longstanding

U.S. policy supports the territorial integrity of the Philippines, and past U.S. military aid

has been used against Filipino communist and Muslim insurgents. Current U.S. policy

opposes worldwide Islamic terrorist groups; Philippine military intelligence claims that

such groups are supporting the MILF and Abu Sayuyuf. A more direct U.S. role in the

southern Philippines thus appears possible even if the intention is to avoid it. A U.S.

military support program that assists the AFP in the South would heighten the danger of

Muslim terrorist attacks against American targets in the Philippines, pointed up in August

2000 by the kidnaping of an American by Abu Sayyuf. Attacks against Americans, in turn,

could raise debate and issues in Washington regarding a more direct U.S. military

involvement.

U.S. Diplomacy. A renewed security relationship also raises the policy issue of the

role of U.S. diplomacy in the South China Sea dispute. The Clinton Administration did

not give the South China Sea a priority in U.S. diplomacy until 1999. The Administration

stressed only the right of free navigation. It did not raise this issue extensively in the U.S.

bilateral dialogue with China. Moreover, it did not get involved in the negotiations since

1995 over concluding a code of conduct for the contesting countries in the South China

Sea. Those negotiations, within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and

between ASEAN and China, have focused on the types and scope of aggressive behavior

that a code of conduct would prohibit. The Philippines has pressed its ASEAN partners

9

Atienza, Derick. U.S. Defense of Philippines Could Apply to Spratlys. Kyodo News Agency

(Japan) report, June 4, 1999. Estrada: U.S. Defense Pact Does Not Cover Spratlys. Philippine

Daily Inquirer (internet version), February 14, 1999.

10

Halloran, Richard. Reading Beijing. Far Eastern Economic Review, February 25, 1999. P. 28.

11

Gertz, Bill. China Makes Upgrades to Island Base. Washington Times, February 11, 1999. P.

A1. Manila Reports on More PRC Military Buildup in Spratlys. Philippine Star (internet

version), April 16, 1999.

12

Khumrungroj, Sa Nguan. PRC Official Warns ASEAN Against Boosting US Military Ties.

The Nation (Bangkok, internet version), March 15, 2000.

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since 1998 to draft a code of conduct that would prohibit any claimant from seizing

additional islands and atolls.

At the meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in July 1999, U.S. Secretary

of State Madeleine Albright did not endorse a code of conduct (in contrast to the

Australian Foreign Minister, who argued for one), but she did warn that “we cannot simply

sit on the sidelines and watch” if a cycle were “to emerge in which each incident leads to

another with potentially greater risks and graver consequences.”13

Diplomacy over a code of conduct faces two challenges. One is whether the ten

members of ASEAN can present a unified proposal as tough as proposed by the

Philippines. The second is whether China would accept such a code of conduct that

specifically prohibited seizures of islands and atolls. It is argued among U.S. experts on

Southeast Asia that a more assertive U.S. diplomacy would bolster ASEAN in its dealings

with China. The Philippines favors a more assertive U.S. diplomacy. Other experts

believe that ASEAN is too fragmented to be effective, and they warn against the United

States making the South China Sea a contentious issue in U.S.-China relations.14

A failure of the code of conduct initiative could have serious implications for U.S.Philippine security relations. In 1999, Malaysia, another claimant and ASEAN member,

occupied two islands in the Spratlys. This intensified debate within the Philippine

government over whether the AFP should occupy key positions in the Philippine-claimed

area in the Spratlys. The Philippine Defense Ministry has proposed such action; but the

Foreign Ministry opposes it, arguing that diplomacy should be given a further

opportunity. 15 A collapse of the code of conduct initiative could tilt the debate in favor

of the Defense Ministry. A move by the AFP to occupy positions in the Spratlys would

create new issues and decisions for the United States in terms of the degree of U.S.

security support for Manila. A collapse of the code of conduct initiative also could

produce a chain reaction in which all the claimants moved to occupy islands and atolls.

Either a singular Philippine reaction or a chain reaction could escalate the danger of

military clashes in the South China Sea.

13

Kyodo News Agency report, July 26, 1999. Pathan, Don. US Urges ARF to Ease Military

Tension in South China Sea. The Nation, July 27, 1999. P. 1.

14

McDevitt, Michael. China and the South China Sea: A Conference Summary Report. PacNet,

April 16, 1999.

15

Espina, Rene. Foreign Policy Reviewed. Manila Bulletin (internet version), June 27, 1999.

Tiglao, Rigoberto. Seaside Boom. Far Eastern Economic Review, July 8, 1999. P. 14.

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