Del Rosario warns vs VFA abrogation

MANILA, Philippines — The Visiting Forces Agreement is essential to both the Philippines and the US in effectively implementing the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), according to former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario, who sees it fitting to fully revisit President Duterte’s decision to terminate the accord.

“Without the VFA, making the MDT work would be more challenging, especially since we now have specific external threats as well as more devastating natural calamities,” Del Rosario said in a statement sent to The STAR yesterday, where he laid down “several valid reasons” to keep the pact between the two allies.

Duterte threatened to terminate the VFA last month after Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s US visa was cancelled, although some top government officials believed the President has other reasons, like the US Senate resolution condemning alleged human rights violations in the Philippines, some US senators’ demand to release detained opposition Sen. Leila de Lima and the US travel ban against people behind De Lima’s detention.

“Terminating the VFA would serve to actualize our pivot toward China against the strong and vehement objections of our people,” Del Rosario, a former ambassador of the Philippines to the US, said.

“While the VFA is admittedly an imperfect agreement, it would interrupt the benefits of the MDT with regard to the joint training and exercises, the pursuit of modernization, achieving interoperability and providing assistance during natural calamities,” he added.

The former Cabinet secretary also noted that the Philippines and the US have also become effective partners in addressing challenges on counterterrorism, the latest cooperation of which covered the Marawi siege in 2017.

“If we may also recall, the quick US relief response during the Yolanda disaster was made possible by the VFA,” he said.

Other countries wanted to immediately respond but were constrained by the lack of legal arrangements for their troops to enter the Philippines, according to Del Rosario.

“At its peak, the US military efforts included more than 13,000 military personnel, 66 aircraft and 12 naval vessels. The US delivered more than 2,500 tons of relief supplies and evacuated over 21,000 people,” he said.

“Finally, there is a distinct possibility that an abrogation of the VFA could lead to the termination of (the Enchanced Defense Cooperation Agreement), the MDT and other international agreements which would further serve to bring the Palace even closer to being dominated by Beijing,” he added.