Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said the Philippine government is reviving a provision that will assure his country's sovereignty in a military logistics agreement which will be taken up during the visit of U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell on Saturday.

"We have revised the earlier drafts of the agreement to strengthen provisions on sovereignty," said Ople.

He added that the controversial mutual logistics support agreement (MLSA) should specifically state that it will not allow the U.S. to build a permanent base in the country.

"We will probably talk about the MLSA," noted Ople, but added that the draft of the MLSA is still "a work in progress".

Ople said he and Powell will take up a U.S.-Philippine effort to fight against terrorism in south-east Asia.

The U.S. wanted an expanded joint anti-terror mission to be held for nine months in the southern Philippines and in northern Luzon.

But before this could be undertaken, the U.S. wanted the Philippine government to sign the MLSA.
Sources said this would allow the U.S. to base some equipment in the Philippines.

But the Philippine constitution does not allow the deployment of nuclear bombs and nuclear-powered ships and planes. The U.S. does not deny or admit the presence of nuclear bombs in its facilities.