Roberto Romulo, the foreign policy advisor to Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, told the New York Times about discussions between government representatives being conducted "out of the spotlight."

The concessions under consideration include: the granting of "access rights" to the U.S. armed forces to store weapons on Philippine soil; permanent overflight rights to U.S. combat aircraft; and the use of land for short-term military encampments.

Romulo said that in the near future U.S. warships might even be able to berth at Subic Bay for rest and repairs, under contracts with private suppliers and businesses.

From 1947 until 1992, the bay was the site of a major U.S. naval base. In repeated, massive protests organized after the end of President Ferdinand Marcos's martial law regime in 1986, workers, peasants, young people, and others forced the government to end U.S. leases to both the naval base and Clark Air Base.  
 
 
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