MANILA, Philippines -- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting the country this week because of US concerns over a Senate resolution asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to rescind Manila's Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with Washington or seek for a renegotiation, according to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

``They're concerned about (the Senate resolution) and I am afraid they will pressure our President to disregard a resolution of the Philippine Senate,'' Santiago told dzBB on Sunday.

Santiago, who authored the Senate resolution that got the support of majority of senators, said she did not believe Clinton's earlier pronouncements that her two-day visit, beginning this Friday, had to do with America wanting to show solidarity with Filipinos who were badly battered by typhoons in recent months.

``She's coming here because of the VFA,'' Santiago said in Filipino, in reference to Clinton, adding that Washington wanted its soldiers to remain in the country.

The Senate has already adopted the Senate resolution proposed by Santiago, which has asked the government to seek a renegotiation with the US on the 10-year-old agreement allowing the Philippines and the US to hold joint military exercises and other activities that include closer cooperation and coordination in military intelligence activities.

But the resolution also demands that the Philippine government terminate the pact altogether should the US refuse to renegotiate the agreement.

Only the President has the power to abrogate a treaty.

But Santiago, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, said she did not think though that President Arroyo would act on the anti-VFA Senate resolution because she knew this would jeopardize RP-US relations.

Interviewed at the dzBB program of Nimfa Rogado-Ravelo, Santiago said she believed the President do not want to create trouble for the country because the US government would definitely retaliate by scrapping its military assistance to RP or lowering the Philippines’ trade quotas with the US.

``If President Arroyo does this, she knows this would spell trouble for the country when it is supposed to be busy preparing for the 2010 elections,'' she said.

But Santiago said that despite Ms Arroyo’s hesitance on the matter, it was a good thing that Senate passed the resolution, if only to show the country’s stand in its foreign affairs.

Santiago also scoffed at reports that Clinton would come here to discuss the 2010 elections.

``Why do Americans want to talk about our elections? They don't have any role here,'' she said.

She said it was standard for any American official to express the hope for peaceful elections in the country.

``Alangan sabihin nila (It would be weird if they said), ‘we're going to talk about Philippine elections so we can interfere,’'' Santiago added in a hearty laugh.

The senator said US has not shed off its self-appointed role of being the "policeman of the world.''

``That's already an old concept. They should leave our elections to us,'' she said, citing the defeats and setbacks experienced by US when it interfered in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran.

Santiago said the US did not have to remind us to work for peaceful and honest elections, saying Filipino voters, having grown up in an age of "information explosion," have become even more vigilant and educated about their choices.

Besides, Santiago, said, ``We're a small nation. They should leave us alone.''