Government urged to abrogate VFA

ANGELES CITY – President Arroyo was asked yesterday to urge Congress to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) on the ground that it had not helped modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Sonia Soto, chairman of Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD), said two years after the VFA, the AFP "remains backward" despite its annual budget of more than P8 billion, the largest in the government.

"Even the so-called benefits from this lopsided agreement cannot be seen by the Filipino people," she said. "Clearly, the country gains nothing from continuing to honor this agreement and instead are pawns in the forward deployment of the US."

Soto said the Presidential Commission on the VFA’s "knee-jerk reaction" in adopting stricter guidelines may not prevent more deaths from unexploded shells just like the incidents in Toledo City in Cebu last year.

"The mere fact that they (at VFA Com) are imposing stricter compliance now means that there have been violations, including some which have been kept secret from the public," she said.

As for the US offer to rescue the Abu Sayyaf’s hostages, Soto said: "Foreign intervention in domestic affairs cannot be discounted as it has been a common US preoccupation, especially if US business interests are on the line."

Some 1,400 American soldiers are expected to take part in various joint military exercises at Subic Bay in Zambales and in Ternate, Cavite this month. – Ding Cervantes