Palace mum on EDCA conflicting statements

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang kept mum on Tuesday on the seemingly conflicting statement of President Rodrigo Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay about the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

“That policy statement, it’s beyond my paycheck,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

Presidential communications secretary Martin Andanar said the bilateral agreement was discussed during the cabinet meeting last Monday but it was done in closed doors.

EDCA was signed by the Philippines and the United States on April 28, 2014. Then defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg signed the agreement, which grants American troops access to Philippine military bases.

The bilateral deal was seen as a response to China’s muscle flexing in the South China Sea, a resource-rich area that is the subject of a longstanding territorial row in the region. China claims about 90 percent of the area but this is being disputed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Some groups challenged the legality of EDCA before the Supreme Court, believing the agreement is a treaty that should be ratified by the Senate before it can take effect.

The Supreme Court affirmed the legality of EDCA last January. According to the high court, EDCA is a “valid executive agreement” that the president can enter into under the Constitution.

On Sunday, Duterte said he wants a review of the defense deal, noting that the agreement did not contain the signature of the Philippine president.

“Now, may I remind the Americans that EDCA it an official document but it’s only signed by an aide and (former Defense Secretary Voltaire) Gazmin. It does not bear the signature of the president of the Republic of the Philippines,” the president said in a speech during the opening of the MassKara festival in Bacolod City.

“It does not contain the signature of (former president Benigno) Aquino (III). There is none. Better think twice now because I would be asking you to leave the Philippines altogether,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte gestures with a firing stance as he announces issuing side arms to army troopers during his visit to its headquarters in Taguig City. US and Philippine forces opened their first large scale combat exercises under President Duterte in uncertainty Tuesday after he said the drills will be the last in his six-year presidency partly to avoid upsetting China. AP/Bullit Marquez

Yasay, however, clarified the following day that there is no need to review EDCA for now as the Supreme Court has upheld its legality.

“We have to respect it. The Supreme Court has just ruled that it’s legal,” Yasay said in a radio interview last Monday.