'Still speculative': Nograles says there's no plan yet to renegotiate VFA

MANILA, Philippines — There is no plan yet to renegotiate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States (US), Malacañang said Wednesday, after senators urged President Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider his decision to terminate the decades-old pact.

Last month, Duterte announced that he is scrapping the VFA in response to the cancellation of the US visa of senator and former police chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, one of the brains behind his controversial war on illegal drugs.

Officials later on claimed that the cancellation of dela Rosa's visa was just one of the reasons that impelled Duterte to seek the abrogation of the agreement. Other reasons cited by Malacañang are the demand by some US senators to free detained opposition Sen. Leila de Lima; the US Senate resolution condemning the alleged human rights violations in the Philippines; and the introduction of a US national budget provision that ban from the US people behind De Lima's detention.

Three Philippine senators - Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Panfilo Lacson - have filed a resolution asking Duterte to reconsider his decision to abrogate the VFA while the Senate is reviewing and assessing the impact of the defense pact.

The Senate, according to the three senators, should be allowed to review the possible effects of the scrapping of the VFA on intelligence information sharing, military aid and financing, and technical assistance provided by the US to the Philippines.

While some allies of Duterte are calling for a review or a renegotiation of the VFA, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the matter has not been discussed in the Cabinet.  

"That's speculative, that's specualtion. We are not yet there in that level," Nograles told hosts of "The Chiefs" aired over Cignal TV's One News channel.

"At the very least, it was not yet relayed to us. It was not yet discussed in the Cabinet," he added.

Nograles said it would be up to the president to decide whether to hold dialogue with allies calling for a renegotiation of the VFA.

"If that is the sentiment of the Senate, then obviously we need to dialogue with them. Then it's up to the president," the Palace official said.

Some sectors have warned against abrogating the VFA, saying it could affect the Philippines' efforts against terrorism and other security threats.

Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo previously said the VFA is "a special grant of privilege agreement" because under the deal, the Philippines cannot assume jurisdiction over crimes committed by American military personnel unless a particular crime is of particular importance to the Philippines.

Independent foreign policy

Officials, however, clarified that the termination of the VFA would not affect other agreements with the US like the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty.

Asked whether the president's decision to walk out of the VFA is not yet set in stone, Nograles maintained that the "decision is to terminate" the agreement.

Nograles said the president's pronouncement that he would abrogate the VFA is consistent with his independent foreign policy.

"I think the message of the president is we have our own independent foreign policy, we will pursue our independent foreign policy and not be beholden to any nation or not be dictated to by any nation," he said.

Nograles claimed it is not fair to assume that the cancellation of Dela Rosa's visa was the only reason behind the decision.

"When he made that decision, I think it was because of all that pressure being applied by certain officials, high officials from the United States, as if dictating upon us how to run the government and how our legal processes  and prosecution and cases in court are supposed to run," the Palace official said.