VFA review: Senate to include MDT, EDCA

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate will expand its review of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States to include other security pacts with the US – like the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) – and come up with recommendations to Malacañang such as amending and clarifying vague provisions that may seem inequitable.

The decision to conduct a sweeping assessment of the VFA came after members of the Senate committee on foreign relations, chaired by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, held a closed-door meeting on the issue as some senators were cool to such a review, saying it may be seen as encroaching on the powers of the executive branch.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III suggested a meeting for his colleagues to reach a consensus. 

“There’s a theory that the VFA is an implementation of the MDT, so let’s include that, and since EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) is an adjunct of the MDT, that’s included,” Pimentel told reporters.

“We’re not interfering in any way, we’re just reviewing… the attitude of the executive branch is they want to consult us so we expect their full cooperation,” he said. 

He said the review will cover, among others, the benefits the country may have obtained since the MDT, VFA and EDCA came into force, as well as the problems that arose with the regular entry of US troops in the country.

He said the VFA between the Philippines and Australia will also be looked into by the panel, even as he conceded that the joint congressional oversight panel on such agreements “has not been active.”

“What is the national interest at stake in these agreements?” Pimentel said. 

The panel will also inquire on the status of efforts of some quarters in government to seek a renegotiation of the MDT to make US security commitments clearer, he said. 

Pimentel said the panel may be able to come up with a report and forward a copy of the same to Malacañang before the end of next month, or before President Duterte makes a final decision whether or not to scrap the VFA. 

He noted that Duterte last week gave Washington 30 days to restore Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s US visa and the same deadline to concerned agencies to study the impact of scrapping the VFA.

Duterte had threatened to scrap the agreement in response to the cancellation of Dela Rosa’s visa. 

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian will be among the lawmakers who will file a resolution to formally call for the review. 

Many senators – both from the majority and opposition blocs – agree that the President has the prerogative to terminate treaties and agreements such as the VFA, even if such pacts require the prior concurrence of the Senate before they enter into force.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the committee on national defense and security, has been critical of how Duterte came up with his decision but still acknowledged that the President has the sole prerogative of revoking the agreement. 

Lacson said the decision on whether or not to scrap the VFA should have been preceded by complete staff work “especially on matters as serious as a bilateral agreement that obviously underwent some tedious and intense discussions, first at the executive level then at the Senate for ratification before it became operational.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon pushed for the passage of a resolution that will assert the role of the Senate in treaty termination or withdrawal, saying that any treaty and international agreement should only be valid and effective upon concurrence of the Senate.

“The power to bind the Philippines by a treaty and international agreement is vested jointly by the Constitution in the President and the Senate,” Senate Resolution 305 states.

Article VII, Section 21 of the Constitution provides that “no treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the members of the Senate.”  

“A treaty or international agreement ratified by the President and concurred in by the Senate becomes part of the law of the land and may not be undone without the shared power that put it into effect,” the resolution stated.

Drilon first filed the resolution in 2017 during the 17th Congress. Drilon, along with 13 senators, filed Senate Resolution 289 that emphasized that the Senate should have a say when a treaty, or international agreement concurred in by the Senate, is terminated or abrogated. Then neophyte Sen. Manny Pacquiao, however, blocked its passage. 

Of the 13 who co-authored the previous resolution with Drilon, nine are incumbent members of the chamber, including Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri, Sens. Leila de Lima, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Sonny Angara and Joel Villanueva. 

While Drilon’s resolution did not pass despite having been signed by a majority of senators, succeeding resolutions adopted by the Senate explicitly provide for a provision requiring the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the Senate before a treaty it concurred in is terminated.

A Camp Aguinaldo insider revealed that a series of meetings between defense and military strategists are being held – discussing the pros and cons to the country’s national security – on what may happen with the possible scrapping of the VFA.

Likewise, key people in the defense and military establishments, he said, don’t want a repeat of what happened to the country’s external defense posture when two US facilities – the Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Base – were shut down in the early 1990s. – With Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Elizabeth Marcelo

When both US military bases, the biggest outside of the US mainland at the time, were still  in operation, the Philippines depended heavily on American forces in securing the country’s air and maritime domain.

When the US withdrew the bases, China took advantage of the Philippines’ defense weakness by immediately establishing its presence in the West Philippine Sea.

“These are the matters being discussed as the country still has limited capabilities,” said the source.

Meanwhile, without the official communication regarding VFA termination, both Filipino and US military planners are set to continue with their regular planning sessions for this year’s scheduled joint military exercises.

More than 200 Philippine-US military exercises have already been lined up in 2020, all under the auspices of the MDT.

“It’s not clear yet if the VFA will be cancelled and there’s no clear guidance to stop the joint military planning sessions for this year’s exercises, particularly on the forthcoming Balikatan exercises in May,” the source said.

‘Irrational’

Sen. Leila de Lima has called President Duterte’s threat to scrap the VFA an “irrational move.

De Lima, a former justice secretary, maintained that the termination of the 1999 military pact allowing Filipino and American soldiers to hold joint drills in the Philippines may only benefit foreign interests rather than those of the Filipino people.

“Decisions on matters of national interest should not be based on one man’s pursuit of personal grudge, his bruised ego or his attempts to look tough when, in truth, he has failed to fulfill his campaign promises and has been, for the last three years, making up excuses and crises to cover up his failures,” she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 708.

“To be clear: canceling the VFA is not the best move for the Filipino people and Philippine interests. It can only be good for certain foreign interests,” she added.

Meanwhile, progressive group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) has urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make public its ongoing review of the VFA.

“The DOJ should make public its review of the Visiting Forces Agreement and allow public participation since the matter at hand is about national sovereignty,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said in a press statement.

Reyes made the statement after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that the Cabinet cluster on security, justice and peace will convene at Malacañang on Jan. 31 to discuss the VFA.