That Bases Assurance: Premature ejaculation? (Part II)

You never forget classmates in grade school who were just full of beans and habitually quicker than the rest to raise their hands and give the answers to teacher. * * * Faster on the draw are the administration's Secretary of Defense Voltaire Gamin and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario - both quick to the lip to assure that, when push comes to shove in the Korean peninsula, our bases would be available to US armed forces. * * * And all the time I thought this was a call of the Philippine Senate..? * * * BTW, did the US ask? * * * The premature ejaculation from DND and DFA was cannon fodder for the leftists. Communist Party of PH denounced "the Aquino regime for blindly supporting US warmongering and for allowing the Philippines to be used as a military outpost and instrument of US hegemonism (sic) in the Asia-Pacific region." * * * Not so. The communists cannot really fault P-Noy, whose mother, President Corazon Aquino, was incumbent when the Philippine Senate voted to reject a new treaty for the Subic Bay Naval Station and to end an American military presence in the country. * * * In a vote of 12 to 11, the Senate adopted a motion to spurn a new treaty, which would have allowed thousands of American troops to remain at the base for another 10 years. * * * NO TALK, NO MISTAKE. Next time, let us make haste slowly with Daang Matuwid on the use and conduct of bases. * * * Obviously, the Senate, whose business it is to decide foreign policy on use and access to the bases, was not available for comment since many are at the hustings and more occupied with extending their term via re-election. * * * BTW, my understanding of our mutual defense treaty with USA is that (unlike the treaty with NATO and possibly South Korea and Japan), an attack on PH does not trigger automatic retaliation. In our case, the US Senate would still have to meet to determine the next course of action. * * * So why would Messrs. Gazmin and Del Rosario go out of their way to give the assurance...even before the US pops the question? Why not just let our Senate meet sine die? * * * Do we have to make nice because our defense posturing depends on Washington? When the bases went out in the Seventies, Dick Gordon made a case of turning swords into ploughshares in Subic. * * * When DFA had its planning session at Subic, I asked then Foreign Secretary Roberto R. Romulo why Subic was "as good as (if not better than) when the Americans left it..." * * * "...And why was the DFA building on Roxas Blvd in a sorrier state after the Asian Development Bank left it to us?" * * * SUMMITRY. H. M. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei concluded a successful two-day visit yesterday. Did the President ask him about his great ancestor's gift of Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu? * * * DOWN, BUT NOT OUT. Does it come in 3's? After the stunning loss of Manny Pacquiao to Marquez, two other champions fell like domino's - FilAm Brian "The Hawaiian Punch" Viloria lost a split decision to Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada and Nonito Donaire lost a unanimous decision to Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux. * * * The sportsman Donaire congratulated Rigondeaux, and then said, "I just want to thank God for keeping me safe, my guardian angels for protecting me, my team for standing behind me, and my fans for their support." He promises to bounce back. FEEDBACK: jaz_ide@yahoo

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That Bases Assurance: Premature ejaculation? (Part II)