By Joel R. San Juan & Rene Acosta
THE Philippines’s decision in moving to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States was a move in the “wrong direction” due its regional security implications, borne principally by China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, the US’s top defense official said.
“I do think it would be a move in the wrong direction…as we both bilaterally, with the Philippines, and collectively, with a number of other partners and allies in the region, are trying to say to the Chinese you must obey the international rules of order. You must obey, you know, abide by international norms,” said US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a day after the US Embassy in Manila received the formal notice of termination from the Philippine government.
Also on Wednesday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra insisted that the termination of the VFA is a prerogative of President Duterte.
He was reacting to a reported plan of some senators to question before the Supreme Court Duterte’s termination of the VFA without concurrence of the Senate, which under the Constitution must ratify all treaties. Palace officials had said termination does not require Senate concurrence.
The DOJ secretary pointed out that while it is the right of the Senate to raise the matter before the Supreme Court, he believes that filing a case would be futile since the question on whether the President should consult the Senate is a political question which the SC has no jurisdiction on.
“Although a treaty is considered part of the law of the land, it does not belong to the class of ordinary statutes that pass through the entire legislative process, i.e., its abrogation is not similar to the repeal of an ordinary statute,” Guevarra said.
“Whether the President should at least consult the Senate is manifestly a political question that the Supreme Court will certainly refuse to resolve,” he added
Senate President Vicente Sotto III earlier said senators do not intend to challenge Duterte’s order to terminate the treaty, but only to determine if the chamber’s concurrence is needed in abrogating the treaty.
The termination of the treaty will take effect in 180 days.
Esper’s lament
In reply to a question of journalists traveling with him, Esper, meanwhile, said: “And as we try and, you know, bolster our presence and compete with them [China] in this era of great power competition, I think it’s a move in the wrong direction. For again, for the longstanding relationship we’ve had with the Philippines for their strategic location, the ties between our peoples, our countries.”
Esper was enroute to Europe to attend a meeting with Nato officials and a security conference in Germany.
Esper’s statement was provided to Manila-based reporters by the US government.
On Monday, US Department of State Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper said the termination of the VFA, which operates under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (Mdt), will mostly affect the military-to-military activities involving the US and the Philippines.
It would also affect the freedom of navigation, and overflight, that the US military regularly conducts in the South China Sea to challenge Beijing’s activities and keep the international waterway open to international use.
“All the freedom of navigation operations, all the exercises, all the joint training, having US military personnel in port, on the ground, on the flight line does require that we have a mechanism that allows that, and that’s why the VFA is so important,” Cooper said.
Esper said they would have to study the ramifications of the termination notice within the next months, adding the move was unfortunate.
‘One day at a time’
“We just got the notification late last night. We have to digest it. We have to work through the policy angles, the military angles. I’m going to hear from my commanders. But you know, in my view, it’s unfortunate that they would make this move,” he said.
“We’ve got to read it. We’ve got to digest it, 180 days. We’ve got to work through it, and we’ll just take a deep breath and take it one day at a time,” he added.
The US defense secretary implied that he was surprised by the move, given that he visited the Philippines last November, when he and his counterpart, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, affirmed the defense and security alliance between the Philippines and the US.
“I was just there…[I] had very good meetings with Philippine defense officials, to include my counterpart who is [an] interlocutor on these matters. And I do think it would be a move in the wrong direction,” he said.
‘Hollow agreement’
In Manila, Guevarra, meanwhile, also confirmed that once the VFA between the two countries is terminated it “will make the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement [Edca] practically useless and the Mutual Defense Treaty a hollow agreement.”
“The basic MDT need not be scrapped. It is the umbrella agreement. Maybe in the future new arrangements may be entered into that will give teeth and muscle to this treaty, or it may be scrapped altogether. Foreign policy is dynamic; it evolves with the times,” he explained.
The Edca is a supplemental agreement to the VFA while the MDT was signed between the Philippines and US in 1951, where both parties agreed that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on either the Philippines or the US would be dangerous, and that they would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.
Guevarra said the Presidential Commission on Visiting Forces (PCVF) submitted its report to President Duterte last week.
Although the PCVF members gave different opinions on the termination of the treaty and risk assessments, Guevarra said he was certain that the President has all the information needed in order to come up with a decision on the VFA’s fate.
“The PCVF members had differing views but ended up leaving it to the President’s sound judgment. The DOJ subsequently submitted its memo for the President, presenting the pros and cons, and making its own recommendation. Whether we supported the President’s position or recommended another option is now water under the bridge,” he said.
The PCVF also did not make any recommendation on how the VFA can be enhanced, but suggested that similar VFAs may be considered with other countries to continue the enhancement of the skills of the country’s military personnel.