Four US senators, led by former Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain, are scheduled to meet with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
Raul Hernandez, the spokesperson of the DFA, however, did not provide details on the meeting between Del Rosarion and McCain, who had met in Washington in mid-2011.
Both the DFA and the US Embassy in Manila have kept mum about the schedule of the visiting American lawmakers.
The US Embassy announced over the weekend that the McCain-led delegation would be in the country from Jan. 16 to 18 to âmeet with government leaders, discuss cooperation and reaffirm the allianceâ between the two allies.
Aside from McCain, the group includes Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut), Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) and Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire).
The visit could include a call on President Benigno Aquino III at MalacaĂąang.
US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. had told Palace reporters that the US senators âwould like to have the opportunity to meet the President and his Cabinet and their counterparts.â
The US delegation will hold a brief press conference at the US Embassy Tuesday afternoon, according to the US mission.
During his June 21, 2011 meeting with Del Rosario in the US capital, McCain called on Washington to expand military and political support to Southeast Asian nations to stand up against China in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
âMore unified frontâ
McCain said the US should help members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations like the Philippines develop and deploy an early warning system and coastal vessels in the disputed waters.
The US legislator, a former US Navy captain, said Washington should also turn to diplomacy to help Asean members sort out their own disputes and âestablish a more unified front.â
McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential race to Barack Obama, welcomed the administrationâs defense of freedom of navigation in the West Philippine Sea but said it should go further.
He said the US should let other countries know âwhich claims the US accepts, which ones we do not, and what actions we are prepared to support,â especially in defense of the Philippines, a treaty ally.
Meanwhile, the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) expressed serious concerns over the US senatorsâ visit.
New defense strategy
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said âthe visit comes in the wake of the unveiling of a new US defense strategy that aims to put more American troops in the Asia Pacific.â
In a statement, Reyes noted that McCain âhas been a vocal advocate of US intervention in the Spratlys dispute.â
âThis visit is a reaffirmation of the defense ties that make us a colonial outpost of the US,â Reyes said as he urged the government to âassert the national interest during these high-profile meetings.â
Reyes also said, âSadly, the government will again reaffirm the Visiting Forces Agreement, including the decade-long deployment of US troops in Mindanao. Predictably, the government will again lobby for more US military junk and second-hand equipment like the naval ship we got recently.â
âWe donât see any assertion of national sovereignty on the part of the Aquino administration. The present government has not even questioned why US troops have been based in Mindanao for a decade now without the benefit of a bases treaty,â he said.
Originally posted: 6:07 pm | Monday, January 16th, 2012