Angry Filipino protesters burn EFFIGY of Barack Obama in protest against military pact aimed at 'greater cooperation' between the two countries



Military will get greater access to bases across the region

Presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue in the Philippines

Philippine Senate voted in 1991 to close down U.S. bases



The deal was signed hours before Obama arrived in Manila



An effigy of President Barack Obama was burnt today by Filipino activists during a rally in protest at a a 10-year agreement which will beef up U.S. military forces there.



The military will get greater access to bases across the region as an effort by Washington to counter Chinese aggression.

The presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, a former American colony.

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An effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama is burned by Filipino activists during a rally

Angry Filipino protesters burn effigy of Barack Obama in protest against military pact

An effigy of President Barack Obama is burnt by Filipino activists during a rally as a 10-year pact was signed

The presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, a former American colony

The Philippine Senate voted in 1991 to close down U.S. bases at Subic and Clark, northwest of Manila.



However, it ratified a pact with the United States allowing temporary visits by American forces in 1999, four years after China seized a reef the Philippines contests.

Following the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, hundreds of U.S. forces descended in the southern Philippines under that accord to hold counter terrorism exercises with Filipino troops fighting Muslim militants.

However this time, the focus of the Philippines and its underfunded military has increasingly turned to external threats as territorial spats with China in the potentially oil and gas-rich South China Sea heated up in recent years.

Filipino protesters clench their fists during a protest rally against U.S. President Barack Obama visit in Manila, in the Philippines

A Filipino protester shouts slogans during a protest rally against President Barack Obama's visit in Manila Protesters run around a burning effigy of President Barack Obama during an anti-U.S. protest

Anger: People take part in a protest against U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Philippines today

U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg and Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin signed the agreement at the main military camp in the capital, Manila, ahead of Obama's stop and portrayed it is as a central part of his weeklong Asia trip.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement will give American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships.

The deal was signed hours before Obama arrived in Manila on the last leg of a four-country Asian tour, following stops in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

Goldberg said the agreement will 'promote peace and security in the region,' and allow U.S. and Philippine forces to respond faster to disasters and other contingencies.

It is not known how many additional U.S. troops would be deployed 'on temporary and rotational basis.'



Filipino protesters circle around burning effigies of President Barack Obama and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III during a rally against President Obama's visit to the Philippines Effigies of President Barack Obama and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, bottom, are burned by protesters during a rally to oppose the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the countries Protestors shouting slogans against President Barack Obama's visit to Philippines during the protest today Filipino protesters shout anti-U.S. slogans during a protest rally against President Barack Obama's visit It said the number would depend on the scale of joint military activities to be held in the camps. The size and duration of that presence has to be worked out with the Philippine government, said Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian affairs at the White House's National Security Council. Medeiros declined to say which places are being considered under the agreement, but said the long-shuttered U.S. facility at Subic Bay could be one of the locations. Filipino activists hold a mock U.S. flag bearing the name of President Barack Obama during a rally outside the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila Filipino protesters carry a mock U.S. flag and shout anti-American slogans during a protest rally against President Barack Obama's visit The presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, a former American colony The defence accord will help the allies achieve different goals. With its small military, the Philippines has struggled to bolster its territorial defense amid China's increasingly assertive behavior in the disputed South China Sea. Manila's efforts have dovetailed with Washington's intention to pivot away from years of heavy military engagement in the Middle East to Asia, partly as a counterweight to China's rising clout.

U.S. President Barack Obama (left) meets Philippine President Benigno Aquino III (right) inside Malacanang presidential palace in Manila

President Obama, centre left, smiles as he walks through the line of a troop during his arrival in Manila

U.S. President Barack Obama waves to the media after arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, this morning

Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, left, shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg after signing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement

President Obama, left, and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, right, toast as they attend a state dinner

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, right, at a state dinner

'The Philippines' immediate and urgent motivation is to strengthen itself and look for a security shield with its pitiful military,' Manila-based political analyst Ramon Casiple said.

'The U.S. is looking for a re-entry to Asia, where its superpower status has been put in doubt.'

The convergence could work to deter China's increasingly assertive stance in disputed territories, Casiple said.

However, it could further antagonise Beijing, which sees such tactical alliance as a U.S. strategy to contain its rise, and encourage China to intensify its massive military buildup, he said.

Hundreds of American military personnel have been deployed in the southern Philippines since 2002 to provide counterterrorism training and serve as advisers to Filipino soldiers, who have battled Muslim militants for decades.

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, walks with Philippines President Benigno Aquino III at Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines

U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines

The agreement says the U.S. will 'not establish a permanent military presence or base in the Philippines' in compliance with Manila's constitution.

A Filipino base commander will have access to areas to be shared with American forces, according to the primer.

Disagreements over Philippine access to designated U.S. areas within local camps hampered negotiations for the agreement last year.

The agreement will increase coordination between U.S. and Filipino forces, boost the 120,000-strong Philippine military's capability to monitor and secure the country's territory and respond more rapidly to natural disasters and other emergencies.

U.S. President Barack Obama reviews the honor guard with Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, left, at Malacanang Palace in Manila

While the U.S. military will not pay rent for local camp areas, the Philippines will own buildings and infrastructure to be built or improved by the Americans and reap economic gains from the U.S. presence, it has been said.

Chinese paramilitary ships took effective control of the disputed Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground off the northwestern Philippines, in 2012.

Last year, Chinese coast guard ships surrounded another contested offshore South China Sea territory, the Second Thomas Shoal, where they have been trying to block food supplies and rotation of Filipino marines aboard a grounded Philippine navy ship in the remote coral outcrops.

China has ignored Philippine diplomatic protests and Manila's move last year to challenge Beijing's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea before an international arbitration tribunal.

