From the Manila Times (Feb 3): MILF pact could allow US bases in Bangsamoro homeland
THE United States (US) may be granted basing rights in Mindanao by the Bangsamoro Political Entity once the final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is signed and set into motion, according to an in-house think tank of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The Office of Strategic and Special Studies (OSS), a unit under the military, said Washington played a pivotal role in the peace talks both directly, through “secret” meetings between US officials and MILF leaders, and indirectly, by providing aid.
“One thought is about an American-led plot to lend a debt of gratitude by helping Mindanao become independent and get repaid in terms of grant of US rights to set up bases there,” the OSS said in a book it published, “In Assertion of Sovereignty: The Peace Process.”
The paper was authored by Cesar Pobre and Raymond Jose Quilop, a political science professor from the University of the Philippines who has been providing policy directions to the AFP over the last two decades.
According to the OSS, General Santos City in South Cotabato is being considered as the future site for a US base.
“In any event, whatever interest the US may have in the peace process, it may be well to keep in mind that from 1999 to 2008, six meetings between US government officials and MILF leaders have reportedly taken place. In February 2008, [Former] US Ambassador Kristie Kenney paid a visit to the main rebel base of Camp Darapanan in the town of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and met with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad and Central Committee members,” the book said.
The meetings were so secret that “the visit was done apparently with no prior coordination with the appropriate government authorities.”
“The day before the visit, Kenney was with then DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo for the opening of the Balikatan exercises,” it said.
Reports about Kenney’s “secret” meeting with the MILF leaders was first made public by Wikileaks in 2011 through the release of purportedly secret cables from the US Embassy in Manila to Washington. The OSS book confirmed this.
It was widely known that after declaring war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, the US government worried that Mindanao would become a “sanctuary or training ground for international terrorists.” Washington was aware of the MILF’s supposed links to Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda.
“Apparently, Ambassador Kenney was interested in the progress of the peace talks and the creation of a new autonomous region under MILF rule. An exchange of views regarding the Balikatan exercises was reported to have been done,” the OSS said.
Reserved power
But Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles said the observation may be out of place in the context of the new deal being forged with the MILF.
For one, granting the US being basing rights here is a power “reserved to the national government,” Deles said.
Asked if the Bangsamoro Political Entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) could actually enter into such an agreement, Deles replied: “No.”
“Foreign policy is a reserved power of the national government! That is very clearly stated in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and in the power-sharing annex,” she said in a text message to The Manila Times.
CIA front
The OSS book said Washington was considered a “major stakeholder” in the peace process and had actually used organizations that were believed to be fronting for the Central Intelligence Agency. One of these agencies is the US Institute for Peace (USIP) through the Philippine Facilitation Project.
The OSS, citing several sources, said the USIP’s “true objective is to infiltrate the MILF.”
“The US through the USIP guided the crafting of the [defunct] MOA-AD [memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain] to serve its tactical and strategic objectives in the country as well as in the Southeast Asian region,” it noted.
The allegations were denied by Kenney who pointed out that the USIP acted on its own in preparing a study paper on the peace process that did not reflect Washington’s position, but “she did not mention, however, that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was among the ex-officio members of the institute.”
http://manilatimes.net/milf-pact-could-allow-us-bases-in-bangsamoro-homeland/73033/
THE United States (US) may be granted basing rights in Mindanao by the Bangsamoro Political Entity once the final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is signed and set into motion, according to an in-house think tank of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The Office of Strategic and Special Studies (OSS), a unit under the military, said Washington played a pivotal role in the peace talks both directly, through “secret” meetings between US officials and MILF leaders, and indirectly, by providing aid.
“One thought is about an American-led plot to lend a debt of gratitude by helping Mindanao become independent and get repaid in terms of grant of US rights to set up bases there,” the OSS said in a book it published, “In Assertion of Sovereignty: The Peace Process.”
The paper was authored by Cesar Pobre and Raymond Jose Quilop, a political science professor from the University of the Philippines who has been providing policy directions to the AFP over the last two decades.
According to the OSS, General Santos City in South Cotabato is being considered as the future site for a US base.
“In any event, whatever interest the US may have in the peace process, it may be well to keep in mind that from 1999 to 2008, six meetings between US government officials and MILF leaders have reportedly taken place. In February 2008, [Former] US Ambassador Kristie Kenney paid a visit to the main rebel base of Camp Darapanan in the town of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and met with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad and Central Committee members,” the book said.
The meetings were so secret that “the visit was done apparently with no prior coordination with the appropriate government authorities.”
“The day before the visit, Kenney was with then DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo for the opening of the Balikatan exercises,” it said.
Reports about Kenney’s “secret” meeting with the MILF leaders was first made public by Wikileaks in 2011 through the release of purportedly secret cables from the US Embassy in Manila to Washington. The OSS book confirmed this.
It was widely known that after declaring war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, the US government worried that Mindanao would become a “sanctuary or training ground for international terrorists.” Washington was aware of the MILF’s supposed links to Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda.
“Apparently, Ambassador Kenney was interested in the progress of the peace talks and the creation of a new autonomous region under MILF rule. An exchange of views regarding the Balikatan exercises was reported to have been done,” the OSS said.
Reserved power
But Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles said the observation may be out of place in the context of the new deal being forged with the MILF.
For one, granting the US being basing rights here is a power “reserved to the national government,” Deles said.
Asked if the Bangsamoro Political Entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) could actually enter into such an agreement, Deles replied: “No.”
“Foreign policy is a reserved power of the national government! That is very clearly stated in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and in the power-sharing annex,” she said in a text message to The Manila Times.
CIA front
The OSS book said Washington was considered a “major stakeholder” in the peace process and had actually used organizations that were believed to be fronting for the Central Intelligence Agency. One of these agencies is the US Institute for Peace (USIP) through the Philippine Facilitation Project.
The OSS, citing several sources, said the USIP’s “true objective is to infiltrate the MILF.”
“The US through the USIP guided the crafting of the [defunct] MOA-AD [memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain] to serve its tactical and strategic objectives in the country as well as in the Southeast Asian region,” it noted.
The allegations were denied by Kenney who pointed out that the USIP acted on its own in preparing a study paper on the peace process that did not reflect Washington’s position, but “she did not mention, however, that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was among the ex-officio members of the institute.”
http://manilatimes.net/milf-pact-could-allow-us-bases-in-bangsamoro-homeland/73033/