The revelations of embattled Navy Lt. Nancy Gadian that US troops are engaged in combat and have “permanent and continuous presence” in the country are in violation of Philippine laws and constitute grounds for termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), activist lawmakers said on Thursday.

Representatives Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis and Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna issued the statement as they called on the Legislative Oversight Committee on the VFA to conduct an immediate inspection of at least four military camps in Mindanao where US troops had allegedly built permanent and temporary structures.

Mariano said the structures should be dismantled because the construction was “a direct affront to the country’s sovereignty.”

“The existence of US military structures in Mindanao and the purported role of US forces in combat are the strongest grounds to terminate the lopsided and highly onerous VFA,” Mariano said.
 
Gadian reported during a press conference last Wednesday that American soldiers were purportedly “embedded” with Filipino troops in combat situations in Mindanao, and that the US military hasbuilt permanent and temporary structures in several Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) camps in the south.

Mariano said “the revelation of a former insider like Gadian confirmed what critics of the VFA were saying all along – that US armed intervention is going on in the country.”

“We demand the Arroyo government to assert our sovereignty by immediately dismantling US military structures and eject US troops in Mindanao," Mariano said.