Thursday, December
05, 2013
US Ambassador Philip
Goldberg: I’d
like to thank the Senate President for his very warm welcome this morning. I’m
meeting all the leaders of all the branches of the government. I wanted to come
by and pay my respect also to the Senate. We had a chance to discuss some
issues that you are very familiar with, the typhoon relief that the
international community has been partnering with the Philippine government in
addressing. I express again my condolences, the United States’ condolences, for
the suffering and devastation in the Eastern Visayas. We had a chance to
discuss a range of issues that affect both our countries, about the partnership
that the US and the Philippines enjoy. So, we had a very friendly discussion
and I’m very happy to be at the Senate, very happy to be here in the
Philippines.
SP DRILON: We welcome the
ambassador to the Senate today and reiterated our strong ties with his country.
We thank the ambassador and the US government through the ambassador for the
quick assistance that the US extended to our country, nearly $52 million worth
of assistance on the relief operation was extended by the United States
government. We also discussed the next phase which is principally the
rehabilitation of these areas and we discussed the bureaucracy at the federal
level of the US government how they respond to disasters such as this. They had
Katrina and Sandy. In our case, we still have an ad hoc council that handles
relief and rehabilitation. We are looking at the possibility of having a
permanent government structure instead of what we have today. We are looking at
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and how it works. I understand a
lot of improvement happened after Katrina and we’re looking at that to see the
good practices we can adopt here so we’ll be able to respond effectively to
disasters that will visit us in the future. No question about that. So, we’ll
be looking at that rather than an ad hoc council that we have today in our
bureaucracy which because of the lack of a permanent structure, the President
found need to appoint a rehabilitation czar in Senator Lacson. So, we discussed
that with the Ambassador and we expressed our appreciation once more for his
time that he devoted this morning in the Senate. We look forward to working
with the Ambassador on matters that will involve the legislature.
Q: As the US
Ambassador of the Philippines now, what are your plans and priorities in
particular?
Goldberg: Well, of
course, the immediate plans, as the Senate President has said, have been
dominated by the relief efforts now going to rehabilitation stage. There is
almost $60 million at this point that the United States has committed to relief
efforts. Now, we are looking at the rehabilitation stage, but that is an
immediate concern. On a different level, sort of a more expansive look, what we’re
interested in is a heightened partnership. Something that represents the 21st century
in terms of our relationship, a partnership that is able to expand our economic
interaction that provides for the prosperity of both our peoples, allows us to
go further than we have and perhaps in the past, that means in a concrete term,
ideas like the Transpacific Partnership. Other kinds of economic opportunities
in the future, not immediately. That will be very much in our agenda. I had the
great privilege of being with a group of ASEAN youth exchange from various
countries in the region who are here in Makati in a conference that we are
sponsoring. That’s the kind of effort that we want to both engage in. We are
trying to develop the youth of our countries in promoting greater integration
as well as opportunities. There are certain security issues that we discussed
and in areas that we can heighten our partnership as the Senate President said,
in terms of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. There’s a whole range
of things that we can do to try to raise our partnership in a way that reflects
the rise of Asia, the rise of United States’ interest in Asia and a partnership
that has endured a long time but adapting it to the new 21st century.
Q: You talked about
heightened partnership in security issues. Were you able to discuss the plan to
increase the rotational presence of US troops and if there’s a need to amend
the existing laws or for that new agreement to go through Congress or Senate?
Goldberg: I will allow
the Senate President to discuss what needs to be done in the Philippines. The
legislature here is the Senate’s business but we had a chance to talk about it
because it’s really unavoidable. The context of events, the first one being the
typhoon relief and what I think the framework agreement can do to help in the
rotational presence, to help in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,
being able to preposition supplies in able to do things to help here and
working with the Armed Forces of the Philippines to help in that. As everyone
saw, the first stage in disaster relief is often the military. Then, we move to
the civilian side. So, we did discuss it and but I will leave it to the Senate
President to discuss anything that might be needed on this side.
SP: There will be no
permanent basing of American troops as a result of the increased rotational
presence that we are discussing now with the US government. I have briefed the
Ambassador of the necessity of a treaty where it could involve permanent basing.
The discussions clearly indicate that there would be no permanent basing here
and as emphasized by Ambassador Goldberg, it would be beyond the military
aspect of the relationship. Many aspects including humanitarian and relief
readiness would be enhanced by the agreement being discussed.
Q: There’s this
growing concern about China’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), my
question is, is there a reason for the Philippines to fear China setting up a
similar zone over South China Sea?
Goldberg: We have
expressed that concern about the ADIZ concept. I would reiterate it. Vice
President Biden who has been visiting Japan and China had spoken about it as
have Secretaries Kerry and Hagel, Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense.
So, I think you know where we stand and that is we think we should be working
very much to reduce tensions, whether that is in Southeast Asia or Northeast
Asia. That is our goal. One of our problems with the way that this is handled
is that it is a unilateral decision. No consultation. It involves an ADIZ where
when we implement it, we don’t ask for such identification from flights not
entering the United States airspace. But the fact that it is a unilateral
decision, is something that could raise tensions, possibly involve
miscalculations. It is something that we need to avoid. We would make it clear
both as a matter of principle and operationally. The Vice President, I know,
has made it clear during his visit to Japan and China. So, I think we need to
work to reduce tensions, to work to make sure there aren’t miscalculations. We
shouldn’t try or speculate about additional measures. Let’s reduce, not
increase. ###
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