SC junks petition on VFA renegotiation

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) junked yesterday the bid of a group that urged the government to renegotiate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States after an American warship ran aground and destroyed a portion of the world famous Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea last January.

SC spokesman Theodore Te said justices voted in regular session to dismiss the motion filed by University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque Jr. last month seeking issuance of a writ of execution for the implementation of the court’s ruling on Feb. 11, 2009 that ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs “to negotiate with the US government for a more equitable and just Visiting Forces Agreement.”

“The SC in an unsigned resolution denied the Motion for Execution filed by Atty. Harry Roque for lack of merit. The SC stated the petitioner should file the motion with the court of origin,” Te said in a text message.

Part of the 2009 SC ruling, which upheld the constitutionality of the

VFA, was putting up of proper detention facilities for US military service people under Philippine authority.

Roque, in his motion, said the recent grounding of the US minesweeper USS Guardian in the Tubbataha National Park, a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, prompted the filing of the motion for execution.

The 68-meter USS Guardian left Subic on Jan. 15 and ran aground in the Tubbataha Reef on Jan. 17 between 2:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. while the ship it was on the way to Indonesia.

Salvage teams from the SMIT Borneo, the US Navy, and the Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. are now dismantling the ship to remove the vessel from the coral reef.

Roque, who represented former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. in the case, explained that a renegotiation of the VFA could pave the way for abrogation of the agreement.

Roque was both petitioner and counsel in the case before the SC, questioning the constitutionality of the VFA owing to the US’s forcibly getting custody of US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, who was then accused of raping a Filipina identified only as “Nicole.”