AFTER the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the legality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) with the US, lawmakers urged the government to ensure that the Armed Forces will be fully modernized in terms of war matériel and equipment before the end of the Aquino administration on June 30.
In a statement, Nationalist Peoples Coalition Rep. Sherwin T. Gatchalian of Valenzuela City said the government should use the Edca to its advantage in terms of securing additional warships and patrol boats from the US government.
“It’s about time that the Armed Forces upgrade its air and naval assets so that frequent surveillance of the contested islands in the West Philippine Sea [South China Sea] can be conducted. It’s really lamentable that our country lags behind in terms of modern planes and ships compared to other claimant nations in the Spratlys,” Gatchalian said.
He said the Armed Forces presently does not have enough aircraft to conduct regular patrols in the West Philippines Sea and the few planes that the Air Force have are not even fitted with basic surface and air-surveillance radar.
“If and when our Armed Forces become modernized in terms of state-of-the-art tanks, fighter jets and warships, we are sure that the Army, Air Force and Navy will be one of the best in this part of Asia. Most important, we can defend our vast territorial waters from foreign incursions” said Gatchalian, a majority member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
‘Take advantage of SC ruling’
FOR his part, Lakas Rep. Martin Romualdez of Leyte said the “government should take the opportunity of Edca victory to fully modernized the country’s military equipment by urging the United States to provide us tanks, war ships, patrol boats, surveillance and fighter aircrafts, and extend other support, such as training.”
“Edca would establish a minimum credible territorial defense, maritime security and maritime domain awareness for the country. We laud and support the ruling as Philconsa [Philippine Constitution Association] is for protecting and defending the Constitution which talks about securing the Filipino people and the pact enhances this mandate,” Romualdez said.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., meanwhile, said the SC ruling was expected.
“As I said before, the pact does not violate the Constitution. There are no constitutional infirmities in that agreement. The ruling is commendable because this will help the country establish a maritime defense,” Belmonte said.
Under the Edca, the US government is permitted to build structures, store, as well as preposition weapons, defense supplies and matériel, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels and aircraft for a period of 10 years from 2014 to 2024.
Ratification
PARTY-LIST Reps. Silvestre Bello III of 1 Barangay Ating Paunlarin (1-BAP) and Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela opposed the SC ruling, saying Edca should be ratified by the Senate.
“I don’t agree with the SC decision. An agreement that grants to a foreign country the right to occupy Philippine sovereign territory should be ratified by the Senate. More important, Edca circumvents the constitutional prohibition against the establishment of foreign bases in Philippine territory,” Bello said.
“The SC just gave its imprimatur to an agreement that transforms the entire nation into a military outpost and exposes us to war. Bad news,” Ilagan said.
With the Edca getting the SC’s nod, there is no stopping Washington from continuing its long-term goal of maintaining the Philippine military’s “planned obsolescence,” Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan said.
“Contrary to the claim of the Aquino administration that the recent SC ruling will ‘pave the way’ for the upgrading of our national defense capabilities, Edca will only ensure that our nation will continue the path toward planned obsolescence,” he said.
In economics, “planned obsolescence” or “built-in obsolescence” is a tactic used to create products with a limited lifespan, thus, ensuring long-term sales through repeat purchases.
“Applied to national defense, planned obsolescence is the name of Washington’s long-term tactic of keeping our nation dependent on the US military, through ensuring limited—and even stunted development—of our own defense capabilities,” Ridon said.
“The Edca ruling not only undermines our sovereignty—it also ensures that the Philippines will forever be beholden to the claws of the US, and, in turn, to Washington’s interests. We have entered into several similar military pacts in the past, but did our country benefit from it? Clearly, no. Instead, agreements, like the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty, only served to keep us dependent on US support,” the lawmaker said.
3 comments
This will help secure the sovereignty and integrity of the country’s national territory, Masyado na na tayo Na BU BULLY ng CHINA
Always remember that the ultimate goal of the Constitution is to secure the nation, Lets hope the ruling will help guarantee the world’s freedom of navigational passage in the West Philippine Sea for global stability
An opportunity fully modernize the country’s military equipment by urging the United States to provide us tanks, war ships, patrol boats, surveillance and fighter aircrafts, and extend other support such as training