The United States government on Tuesday welcomed the Philippines’ decision to suspend termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), four months after Manila sent the notice of termination to Washington.
In a statement sent to media, the US Embassy in Manila said that “on June 1, the Government of the Philippines notified the US Embassy in the Philippines of its decision to suspend termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement.”
The embassy added: “The United States welcomes the Philippine government’s decision. Our long-standing alliance has benefited both countries, and we look forward to continued close security and defense cooperation with the Philippines.”
The reaction basically affirms an earlier announcement by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. that Washington had welcomed the DFA’s sending a notice of suspension of the termination process, which would have become final in August.
Locsin, whom Duterte ordered in February to serve the notice of termination of the 1993 accord to the embassy in Manila, was among the Cabinet members who testified at a Senate hearing in February that the benefits from the agreement — allowing for joint training and improves interoperability among the two countries’ military forces — outweigh the negatives.
The other senior Cabinet member known to have serious reservations about terminating the VFA is Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
In early March, six senators led by Senate President Vicente Sotto III had filed a petition for declaratory relief and mandamus at the Supreme Court, asking it to define the Senate’s prerogative in the case of a unilateral withdrawal by the Executive from a treaty that the Senate had earlier concurred in. The senators–Sotto, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, and Senators Richard Gordon and Panfilo Lacson–asked the SC to declare that a two-thirds vote of concurrence by senators is also required in withdrawing from a treaty.
Image credits: AP/Bullit Marquez
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