Update | ‘Unconstitutional’ US-Philippines defence pact to face legal challenge
Former Philippine senators and opposition activists launch legal action amid claims 10-year agreement with Washington is 'unconstitutional'
The constitutionality of the newly signed pact allowing the US a wider military presence in the Philippines is likely to be challenged in the country's Supreme Court by a group of former senators and other activists who criticised the secrecy of the long-running negotiations.
US President Barack Obama said the 10-year agreement signed yesterday would promote peace and stability in the region and that he hoped China would allow its neighbours to prosper.
The US has never said that they will come to our military assistance
But the increased US military role drew consternation from some Filipino activists, who say the agreement reverses democratic gains achieved when American military bases were shut in the early 1990s, ending a nearly century-long US military presence in its former colony.
The criticism also came from opposition members and some within Philippine President Benigno Aquino's own Liberal Party who said they were not briefed on the pact's contents.
On the eve of the US president's visit, former Philippine vice president Teofisto Guingona and former senator Wigberto Tanada signed a joint statement with other religious and civil society leaders criticising the secret negotiations.
Fellow former senator Rene Saguisag said: "For weeks now, we have been pleading on bended knees [to be briefed on the draft pact] ... what this administration is doing is procedurally deplorable."