Ex-senators petition US-Phl defense deal before SC

MANILA, Philippines — Former senators Rene Saguisag, Wigberto Tañada and international lawyer Harry Roque on Monday filed a petition contesting the newly forged landmark agreement between the Philippines and the United States before the Supreme Court.

In a 65-page petition for certiorari, the former lawmakers, Roque and seven other petitioners asked to court to issue a prohibition or temporary restraining order against the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which they called unconstitutional.

The group said that the EDCA only takes off from the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the two countries not recognized under the 1987 Constitution.

Saguisag and Wigberto said the 63-year-old bilateral treaty allows the country to engage in armed conflict, which the Constitution rejects.

Saguisag and Tañada  are among the "magnificent 12" senators led by former Senator Jovito Salonga who voted to kick the US military bases out of the Philippines in 1991.

They also said that EDCA should be considered as a "treaty" and will therefore need approval of the Senate.

The petitioners further condemned EDCA for allowing nuclear warfare and accused Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista of grave abuse of discretion.

Text of the agreement, however, prohibits the "development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons."

Read: US-Philippine defense deal made public

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had said that the EDCA is faithful to the constitution as the use of military facilities by American troops is only upon invitation of the Philippines.

"The constitutional provision which prohibits the establishment of “foreign military bases... or facilities” in the country except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate does not apply to EDCA," the DFA said in a primer on the agreement released April 28.