By Robina Asido

The Department of National Defense (DND) is waiting for the ''counter draft'' that will be submitted by Japan for the reciprocal access agreement (RAA) following formal negotiations last week.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said the DND formal negotiating team led by Undersecretary Pablo Lorenzo has returned to the country after they flew to Japan last week.

"They are back, within a few, probably two weeks they will wait for the counter draft that will be submitted by the government of Japan regarding the negotiation," he said in an interview in Camp Aguinaldo on Thursday night.

"We will wait for the counter draft and we will see if it is acceptable for us and if it is acceptable then there will be merging for a final draft," he added.

Sources said the DND team that flew Japan on November 27 have returned to Manila over the weekend.

Teodoro did not give any timeline when the RAA will be signed but he mentioned that there are counter proposals that need to be resolved by both sides.

"I cannot give you a timeline because we will still have to wait for the counter draft. We have counter proposals on their proposals which need to be resolved by the two parties," he said.

In his previous interview, Teodoro said once the draft of the RAA was made it would be submitted to the Diet and the Philippine Senate for ratification.

The formal negotiation for the RAA in Japan was held last week following Teodoro and Japan’s State Minister of Defense Miyazawa Hiroyuki meeting in Jakarta during the 10th ADMM-Plus on Nov. 16. DMS