Aquino Broaches U.S. Troop Withdrawal

MANILA —  President Corazon Aquino said today that it is time to discuss the “orderly withdrawal” of U.S. forces from the Philippines, her first public appeal to phase out the American military bases.

Police clashed with hundreds of demonstrators who demanded that the Americans go home. At least 17 people were arrested and seven people were injured in two anti-bases rallies outside the U.S. Embassy.

U.S. and Philippine negotiators open a second round of talks Tuesday on the future of Clark Air Base, Subic Bay naval base and four smaller U.S. installations whose lease expires in September, 1991.

The two sides agreed during the opening round in May to continue talks on a new U.S.-Philippine security agreement.

Opposition to the bases is growing among Filipinos who consider them an infringement on national sovereignty.

On the eve of the talks, Aquino said in a nationally televised address that the negotiations will redefine relations between the United States and this former American colony.

“It is now necessary for our government to work with the United States for arrangements regarding the orderly withdrawal of their forces from our country,” she said.

Manila newspapers reported last month that the Philippines will propose that Clark Air Base and other facilities be closed next year in return for allowing the Americans to keep Subic for 10 years.

“In a world where the Cold War has ended, and events in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have altered the traditional geopolitical order, the decades-old parameters of the (Philippine-U.S.) relationship no longer hold,” Aquino said.