By Samuel P. Medenilla and Recto L. Mercene
MALACAÑANG on Friday announced that President Duterte has already given the go-ahead for scuttling the Philippines’s Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States.
In an interview, Presidential spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said Duterte ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to initiate the process through the Presidential Commission on Visiting Forces (PCVF) to scrap the accord, which allows US military forces to conduct military exercises in the country.
The VFA was approved early in the Estrada administration and was widely seen as some sort of a replacement arrangement after the Philippine Senate voted in September, 1991 to reject an extension of the US-RP bases agreement.
Locsin said he and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana have started the process of terminating the VFA by first, “calling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because on our side it is a treaty; on US side, Executive Agreement.”
Locsin made the announcement on his official Twitter account.
He said on the same tweet that he is leaving for Washington D.C. “on unrelated matters.”
It was ratified by the Philippine Senate but not by the US Senate, prompting the view that it is actually just an executive agreement.
On Friday, Panelo quoted Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. as saying he’s actually “supposed to be departing anytime a few hours from now to the US. But he said he has already called the committee (PCVF) to start the process [of scuttling the deal] and he has even already informed, I think, if I’m not mistaken, the Senate, about it.”
Panelo said Duterte told him about the decision on Thursday evening following Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s revelation that the US embassy has cancelled his US visa.
This, after several US senators issued a resolution calling on their executive department to impose travel and visa restrictions on Philippine government officials involved in the administration’s war on illegal drugs and the detention of Senator Leila De Lima.
Panelo said the Dela Rosa incident coupled with the earlier statement of some US senators asking the Philippine government to release De Lima prompted Duterte to order the cancellation of VFA.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he “understands why PRRD is peeved by the cancellation of Senator Bato’s visa.”
“Bato was specifically targeted. It is a direct affront to PRRD being the architect of the drug war that he started upon his assumption of office,” Esperon said.
Panelo explained they are coordinating with the Senate for the dismantling process since there are two prevailing theories on how the government should go about the cancellation of VFA.
One theory, Panelo said, is VFA is considered by the US government as a executive agreement so it can be terminated by Duterte on his own. The other theory, is that it is a treaty, which may require the approval of the Senate.
Either way, Panelo said Duterte is determined to scrap VFA.
Panelo said the VFA is expected to expire 180 days from the time the parties notify each other.
Even with the latest development, however, Panelo said the country still maintains its diplomatic ties with the US, albeit “not as warm as before.”
Image credits: AP/Bullit Marquez