THE Armed Forces denied on Wednesday reports that US troops have been directly involved in combat operations against terrorists and bandits in the province of Sulu.

Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, Armed Forces spokesman, said the US soldiers seen in the company of Filipino troops who are tracking down bandits and other lawless elements in the province were merely conducting “sight survey” for the annual RP-US Balikatan exercise.

“Yes, there was a report that some American soldiers were seen with our troops, and I was informed that the reason is that they are going to conduct sight survey for the Balikatan,” he said.

Bacarro, said the US troops were surveying the area for the civil-military operations of the joint military exercise.

Bacarro, however, declined to reveal the number of American troops in Sulu, but said that they belong to the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.

Bacarro, though, confirmed that the Americans were helping the government’s operations in the province by providing technical intelligence.

The military has built up its forces in Sulu, in preparation the offensive against Abu Sayyaf bandits and rogue members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Military authorities ordered the offensive following the series of ambushes perpetrated by the bandits and rogue MNLF members against Army troops that killed a total of 35 soldiers.

Earlier, party-list Rep.Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis called for an investigation into the alleged participation of US military forces in the Sulu offensive.

Citing reports, Beltran said the American troops are part of Marine convoys hunting down the bandits.

He said US troops have been photographed by members of the media. He said that he will file a resolution seeking clarification into the presence of US troops in the combat zones.

 Beltran said that the participation of US troops in tactical operations was a clear violation of the Visiting Forces Agreement and, more important provisions of the Constitution on internal security and sovereignty.

He said that on the onset, the Armed Forces should issue an official statement on the involvement of the US troops and divulge how many US troops are actually participating and in which areas they are being deployed.

He said that it was also illegal for US troops to be conduct covert operations on Philippine soil.

 “How far will the US military command in the Philippines and the Armed Forces stretch the excuse that the American troops are only here to offer assistance and not participate in the combat operations?  The fact that US troops form part of the convoy alongside the AFP troops as they ferret out the ASG [Abu Sayyaf] is direct involvement and interference in Philippine internal security affairs. The government and the AFP keep saying that the US troops are only in the country for the Balikatan exercises, yet now here they are joining actual combat operations,” Beltran asked.

Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna warned against US meddling in the ongoing operation even as he echoed Beltran’s statement about the prohibition on the US forces’ participation in combat operations in the country.

He said that the US involvement in Sulu and Basilan will not “only inflame the Abu Sayyaf, but more so the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the communist New People’s Army.”

 Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said that he does not want to preclude the results of the investigation being conducted by the military on the tactical lapses of some of its junior officers, which resulted in heavy loses in the ambushes, by withholding in the meantime any statement on the probe.

He said that being the reviewing authority, he must first wait for the results of the investigation from the Armed Forces.

Teodoro, however, assured that justice would be served.

“If there is anybody who will be found to be responsible or culpable . . . well, the law must be applied,” he said.

Teodoro also said he prefers that Congress first allow the military to finish its operations in Mindanao before conducting its own investigation so that the tempo would not be lost.

However, he said he recognizes the independence and powers of Congress and the military will yield to its wishes should it now conduct the investigation. (With F. Marasigan)

AS another typhoon, the third to hit the country in a span of one week, moves in, heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon flooded parts of Metro Manila, causing heavy traffic on major thoroughfares, including Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), the metropolis’s main thoroughfare.

THE Armed Forces denied on Wednesday reports that US troops have been directly involved in combat operations against terrorists and bandits in the province of Sulu.

THE Supreme Court (SC) yesterday affirmed the Sandiganbayan’s grant of bail to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, a coaccused in the plunder case filed against his father, former-President Joseph Estrada before the antigraft court’s First Division.

NATIONAL Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales agrees with the observation that the antiterrorism law, more commonly known as the Human Security Act (HSA), is unenforceable.

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SAYING that a piece of legislation could not, on its own, lower the prices of medicine, a militant legislator on Wednesday proposed a five-point legislative agenda that included the breaking up of the monopoly of large pharmaceutical companies by amending the Intellectual Property Code.

A PUZZLED Sen. Loren Legarda asked the Arroyo administration on Wednesday to clarify conflicting claims on the perceived economic gains being touted by its officials that the country would get from ratifying the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).