MANILA, Philippines?The Palace should not use China?s protest over the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law as an excuse to keep the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, two lawmakers said on Tuesday.

?I don?t think Malacanang should use the China issue to tell those opposing the VFA to be silent. This issue with China is different from the VFA,? Muntinlupa Rep. Rufino Biazon said in a phone interview.

Gabriela party list Rep. Liza Maza, in a text message, said the country?s row with China over territorial claims in the South China Sea ?was not sufficient ground to continue with the unequal agreement.?

The lawmakers were reacting to a statement by the Palace cautioning those who want to abrogate the treaty with the US to go slow amid the brewing diplomatic dispute with China over the baselines law.

Several lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives have filed resolutions seeking to scrap the VFA in the wake of the battle over the custody of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith who has been convicted for raping a Filipina.

Smith has remained in the custody of the US Embassy in Manila.

With our without the VFA, the US is obliged to help the Philippines should it come into conflict with China under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), Biazon said.

China has declared that the baselines law, which included the disputed Kalayaan group of island and the Scarborough Shoal as part of a ?regime of islands,? was illegal.

Over the weekend, the state-owned Beijing News said that China has deployed its naval patrol vessel to what it claimed was its exclusive maritime zone covering the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands.

But the new Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Liu Jianchao, has reportedly told Senator Juan Ponce Enrile that the dispatched Chinese patrol vessel had nothing to do with the baselines law.

?VFA is just a component of the Mutual Defense Treaty. What we need to hear now is the position of President Obama on the MDT. This might be an opportune time for Philippine officials to sit down with the Secretary of State to find out what we can expect under the MDT with regards to the China issue,? Biazon said.

Meanwhile, Paranaque Rep. Roilo Golez said that the dispatch of the Chinese patrol ship is more related to the USNS Impeccable incident rather than the baselines law.

The Pentagon had announced that the US Navy had dispatched the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon to the area after five Chinese ships allegedly harassed the Impeccable.

?I am more concerned about the possible eyeball to eyeball confrontation between US and Chinese warships, the South China Sea being recognized as one of the world's major potential flashpoints,? he added in a text message.

?That's what we in the Philippines should watch as diplomacy and hardware converge in the South China Sea,? he said.