MANILA, Jan. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.S. government is reportedly unhappy with a committee of the Philippine Congress over its adoption of a resolution calling for the abrogation of the U.S.-Philippine Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) which allows joint military exercises to be held in the Philippines.

    A senior official of the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department said a U.S. Embassy official has expressed his disapproval of the resolution, adopted this month after six U.S. marines were accused of raping a Filipino woman in November last year.

    These marines came to the Philippines to participate in a joint military exercise in the Subic Bay, former U.S. navy base northwest of Manila.

    "The US Embassy official warned that the Philippines do not stand to lose a lot, but all if we abrogate the agreement," the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    A watchdog committee of VFA of the Philippine Congress approved a concurrent resolution calling for the termination of the VFA citing some lopsided provisions in the treaty, particularly those concerning who should take into custody of U.S. soldiers suspected of committing a crime.

    The resolution will be debated in the two chambers of the Congress before being submitted to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for approval.

    If approved by the president, the VFA will stay in force until the expiration of 180 days or six months from the date on which Manila gives Washington notice in writing that it desires to terminate the agreement, signed in 1998 between the two countries.

    As a renegotiation of the treaty requires abrogation of the original VFA version, some Filipino lawmakers wish to revise the VFA to make it similar to the U.S.-Japanese and U.S.-South Korean Status of Forces Agreement, which specify under which condition the hosting countries can take into custody U.S. soldiers suspected of committing a crime.

    Although the Philippine government has repeatedly called on Washington to hand over the marines now held at the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. side has refused to do so by citing the VFA.

    The U.S. Embassy officials have warned that Washington is "likely to cut military aid and other financial support" to the Philippines if the agreement is terminated, according to the same source.

    "And aside from that, it will have a very serious effect on our bilateral relations with the United States," he said. Enditem¡¡