New Philippine Proposal May Bar Nuclear Weapons

A government commission Friday adopted an article opposing nuclear arms on Philippine soil as part of a new constitution being drafted for ratification this year.

The constitutional provision declares that the Philippines “pursues the policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory.” But it is milder than a version promoted by the commission’s outnumbered left-wing bloc that would have declared the Philippines a “nuclear-free” zone and forbidden the use of nuclear power or the presence of any nuclear device.

The milder version passed 26 to 0, with 21 members of the commission absent, including the leftists.

The inclusion of the compromise wording in the constitution raises the possibility that the Philippine government could try to bar from its territory any U.S. ships and planes carrying nuclear weapons, but it is thought unlikely that there will be any immediate confrontation with the U.S. government. The commissioners who supported the eventual ban on nuclear arms said they would leave it up to President Corazon Aquino or to some future president to decide how to achieve that goal.

“It’s up to the government to implement and enforce this,” said commissioner Ed Garcia. “It will depend on the government’s political will.”

The conservative majority deleted a proposal backed by the leftists which said: “The Philippines is a nuclear-free country. No portion of its territory shall be used for the purpose of storing or stockpiling of nuclear weapons, devices or parts thereof.”

The United States, which maintains large naval and air bases here, will neither confirm nor deny that American ships and planes are nuclear-armed, or whether nuclear weapons are stored at the bases. The Philippine armed forces have no nuclear weapons.

The conservatives noted privately that a “nuclear-free” provision would bar nuclear-powered U.S. Navy ships from the American base at Subic Bay.

The original wording of the nuclear provision also would have banned the use of nuclear power and medical devices, according to commission members. The Philippines’ only nuclear power plant has been ordered mothballed by President Aquino. It was completed last year but has never been used.

This was the second straight defeat for the commission’s leftist, or nationalist, bloc. On Thursday, the conservatives pushed through a compromise on the U.S. bases here, rejecting an outright constitutional ban on foreign bases and leaving the decision on renegotiating further U.S. use of the bases after 1991 to Aquino, with any base treaty subject to ratification by the Senate and a possible referendum.

The commission on Friday also overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional ban on abortion.

The commission is expected to complete its work next month and submit the constitution to a popular referendum before the end of the year.