AS more US troops are due to arrive in Mindanao for new joint military exercises starting February 18, a militant legislator called on the House of Representatives to immediately conduct a review on the continued presence and incidents of abuse of US soldiers in Mindanao under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna made the call even as he cited the incident in November 2007 when a US noncommissioned officer ordered a hospital in Panamao town to close every night, preventing medical personnel from treating patients after sundown.

American troops who put up their camp at a Marine base near the hospital even told doctors to treat their patients at the town hall.

Ocampo will file a resolution upon the resumption of session on January 28, calling for an inquiry into the alleged abuses and violation of the US-RP VFA’s Terms of Reference by US troops.

The VFA’s Terms of Reference became controversial during the previous RP-US Balikatan exercises in 2001 on the temporary presence of US troops.

“We cannot allow this open display of military might and arrogance by US armed forces to pass without congressional action,” said Ocampo.

He deplored the statement of Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command chief, that no rebuke of US soldiers was necessary for the closure order on the Panamao hospital.

Ocampo said that “letting this incident pass could lead to further abuses by US armed personnel against the Filipino people, in light of the fact that throughout the year there are US military forces in Mindanao, thus negating the Constitutional prohibition against foreign troops’ presence in Philippine soil.

“It appears that the US is not satisfied in virtually establishing military bases in the country and is now actively engaged in spreading terror in the country,” Ocampo said.

He said “it is high-time for the country to assert its independence and jurisdiction over US troops and not let them freely trample upon our sovereignty.”

Philippine and US troops are set to begin a new joint maneuver dubbed Exercise Balikatan 2008 in Sulu in February. Balikatan, which means “shoulder to shoulder,” is the codename of the joint antiterror drill held each year since 2001.

Militant legislators have been calling for the pull-out of US troops from Philippine soil and the junking of the US-RP VFA which they described as “an onerous and one-sided” agreement between the two countries.

Palace not worried about coup threat

Malacañang said on Tuesday that President Arroyo is pushing through with a weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East, starting January 22, the supposed culmination date of an alleged plot to destabilize her administration.

THE Department of Health (DOH) has expressed relief that all barriers to the implementation of the revised Milk Code have been eliminated, as the Supreme Court (SC) barred milk companies from filing an extension to appeal its October decision.

HOPING the government will realize that the permanent or temporary removal of the 12-percent value-added tax on petroleum products spell big relief to consumers, Sen. Mar  Roxas II expressed optimism on Tuesday that the energy summit called by Malacañang will tackle his proposal to temporarily suspend the collection of VAT on oil products for at least six month.

TENSION gripped Nueva Vizcaya’s mining sites anew, as tribesmen barricaded the site of an Australian mining company in their ancestral lands.

AS more US troops are due to arrive in Mindanao for new joint military exercises starting February 18, a militant legislator called on the House of Representatives to immediately conduct a review on the continued presence and incidents of abuse of US soldiers in Mindanao under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

IN an attempt to address what he described as the moral degeneration of society as a result of the tragedies caused by abortion, child abuse, neglect and other forms of antilife and antichild acts, a legislator has filed a bill allowing the parents of unwanted babies to give up their children to the government without fear of arrest and prosecution.

PSYCHIATRISTS are concerned that the feminization of labor migration that has prompted fathers to take the role of mothers is causing a negative effect on children’s behavior.