Court challenge for U.S. troops

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Supreme Court has ordered its government to justify the presence of U.S. troops, who are in the country to help in a fight against Muslim guerrillas.

The directive means that the court will now decide whether the American soldiers can play a role in combating terrorism in this former U.S. colony.

The arrival of U.S. troops in the southern Philippines last month marked the most significant expansion of the United States' war on terror from Afghanistan.

The American soldiers are carrying out training exercises with local troops in a bid to quell the Abu Sayyaf group, linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

But their presence in the southern Philippines has sparked outrage among some Filipinos, who have probed the legality of allowing them in, and have expressed concern about the setting up of virtual U.S. military bases in the country.

The court has given the presidential palace and the Department of Defence 10 days to answer a petition by two lawyers questioning President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's decision.

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The exercises call for about 160 U.S. special forces soldiers to join Filipino patrols in the jungles of Basilan island, where the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas have been holding a U.S. missionary couple hostage for more than eight months.

The exercises are unprecedented, not only because there are so many U.S. troops participating, but because they are staying for a while and using live ammunition on 'live targets', and entering combat zones.

'Violates constitution'

The two opposing lawyers, including a former president of a national lawyers association, said the U.S. presence violates a Philippine constitution provision barring foreign combat troops from the country, except under a formal treaty.

"To unleash American GI's...even under the cover of expanding the U.S.-led war against global terror in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, is not only an unmitigated insult against the Filipino soldier but a negation of our self-respect as a people and a mockery of the Philippine constitution," the lawyers told Reuters news agency.

The government could not invoke Manila's mutual defence treaty with Washington because the pact applied only to external aggression while the Abu Sayyaf was purely a domestic peace and order problem, they said.

The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of constitutional issues in the Philippines.

It could either throw out the lawyers' petition after hearing the government side, or call a hearing to listen to both sides' arguments before deciding on the issue.

The ruling could take days or a few weeks.

In all around 600 U.S. soldiers are to take part in the planned six-month long exercises. But only select special forces teams will be deployed on Basilan.

They will be armed and can fire in self-defence, if attacked.

In the biggest of nearly daily protests against the U.S. military presence, about 1,000 Filipino leftists rallied in front of the U.S. Embassy earlier this week to denounce the exercises.