Malacañang expressed openness on Tuesday to review the 10-year-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) which the Philippine government forged with Washington.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the Palace is open to calls to evaluate the military pact which covers the conduct of US military personnel participating in the annual Balikatan exercises in the country.

He made such pronouncement after Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairman of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the VFA and of the Senate foreign relations committee, scheduled an inquiry on the prospects of stopping the agreement from becoming a permanent treaty.

“The Palace is ready, willing to cooperate with that review to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned,” he told reporters in a briefing at the Isla Parilla Resort in Sarangani province where the Cabinet meeting was held yesterday.

Anti-government camps claimed that the continued presence of American troops in the country violated the Constitution, particularly the provision against military basing.

Invited at the Senate inquiry seeking to review the VFA implementation since 1999 are Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr., and members of civil society groups.

The calls for reviewing the military pact were triggered by reports from the Pentagon that US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates agreed to maintain about 600 American soldiers in troubled Mindanao to strengthen anti-terrorism efforts between the two countries.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) maintained that both countries negotiated and concluded the VFA in 1999 aware of the relevant constitutional provisions and laws that guide the revitalized defense cooperation.