News Analysis: Philippine-Japan war games plan assailed

The plan of the Philippines and Japan to conduct war games as part of the two countries' military partnership arrangement is illegal and unconstitutional, according to a respected political analyst here.

In an interview with Xinhua, Jose Cortez, a consultant of the Media and Communication Research Center (MCRC) of the Universidad de Manila (University of Manila), said that the existing memorandum of understanding (MOU) on defense cooperation and exchanges signed by the Philippines and Japan is a blatant violation of the l987 Philippine Constitution.

Cortez was reacting to the meeting on Friday between Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Joint Staff of Japan's Self- Defense Forces, and Philippine military officials led by Gen. Hernando Iriberri, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

After the meeting with Kawano, the Department of National Defense issued a press statement saying that Kawano has expressed interest in conducting more joint military exercises with the country, particularly amphibious landing exercises and maritime operations.

The press statement also quoted Kawano as saying that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for security legislations to allow the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to expand their activities abroad.

Cortez, a veteran journalist and a labor leader, said that under Article 18, Section 15 of the Philippine constitution, no " foreign military bases, troops, or facilities, shall be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred by the Senate. "

The analyst, who has been writing in-depth articles on domestic and international issues in the Philippine Graphic, a Manila weekly magazine, said that the MOU now being used by the Philippines and Japan as a basis for conducting joint military exercises is invalid because it is only a protocol and not a formal agreement.

This was the same protocol used by Japan in sending air assets for the joint military drill, purportedly for humanitarian and disaster response, conducted recently in the seas off Palawan in the southwestern tip of the Philippines.

Some members of the lower house of the Philippine Congress have called for a formal inquiry into the military cooperation between the Philippines and Japan.

In an earlier interview, Cortez also expressed alarm over the passage in the lower house of the Japanese parliament of several security measures that would allow Japan to rearm, a virtual abrogation of Japan's pacifist constitution.

Last month, Abe was able to ram through the powerful lower house of the Japanese Diet some controversial bills that opponents say will undermine 70 years of pacifism and could see Japanese troops fighting abroad for the first time since World War II.

According to Cortez, the rearming of Japan would upend the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, which has seen an unprecedented economic growth during the last few years.

Cortez observed that as part of its "pivot" to Asia policy, the United States has been pressuring Japan to expand its military role in the region, with the Philippines as its main target.

He said that the Philippines is being used by the United States and Japan as a "cannon fodder" in their unprovoked confrontation with China over the South China Sea issue.

Cortez also slammed the Philippine government's move to convert a portion of the Subic Bay Economic Zone into a naval facility which the American forces can use under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that was signed on April 28, 2014.

Subic was where the biggest U.S. naval facility was located until it was shut down after the Philippine Senate terminated the bases agreement between the two countries in l992.

The implementation of EDCA, which would allow the United States unhampered and free-of-charge use of all Philippine military facilities, has been put on hold pending the resolution by the Supreme Court of several petitions questioning the agreement's constitutionality. Endi