Abstract:
On July 4, 1946, the Philippines was once again liberated
from the hands of a foreign country; however chat time, from
the hands of the United States of America. On that same day,
the Treaty of General Relations between the two countries was
signed and started the special relations of the two.
Upon the signing of the Military Bases Agreement (MBA) ·in
1947, the Philippines and the United States began to establish
their special military relations. The MBA of 1947 was very
influential not only to the security alliance of the two but
also to their economic partnership. Concomitant to the
Agreement were military aid to help improve the Armed Forces
of the Philippines and economic aid to help the Philippines in
its quest to build a nation which was newly-independent and
greatly-devastated by World War II.
The MBA, for most Filipinos, brought predicament to the
Philippines. It was in fact the greatest source of irritation
among the other agreements that constitute special security
alliance of the two. Therefore in 1991, as had amended, the
MBA was terminated or was expired, and the Treaty of
Friendship, Cooperation and Security which would have extended
the presence of the U.S. military bases in the country was
rejected by the Philippines Senate in 1992.
The termination of the MBA affected the R.P.-U.S. special
military relations and the Philippines economy as well,
Because of this, deliberately or not, defense relationship of
the two countries became less active and the Philippines was
downgraded as il became less important to the U.S. as a component in its security network in the Asia-Pacific region.
It means lesser military aid and lesser economic aid; however,
it can also mean lesser encroachment
Philippine sovereignty.
