Senators may bring VFA issue to SC

MANILA, Philippines — Senators have expressed regret over President Duterte’s move to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the US, with Senate President Vicente Sotto III raising the possibility of some of his colleagues turning to the Supreme Court (SC) for help not to challenge the President’s order, but to determine if the chamber’s concurrence is needed for abrogating a treaty.

Sotto said the Senate respects the decision of Duterte, but it still continues to urge him to reconsider his stance until senators finish its review of the VFA and make recommendations, as stated in Resolution 312 that they passed on Monday night.

Sotto said he was inclined to support a pending resolution stating that Senate concurrence is needed before any treaty or agreement is revoked.

“I am inclined to support it because in this case, we thought a review is proper. We thought that we should have been consulted and we were giving out our sense that it should be reconsidered, knowing that there are very serious implications on EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) and the MDT (Mutual Defense Treaty), so we thought that we should have been consulted but nevertheless, the chief architect of the foreign policy is the President, the buck stops with him, so be it,” Sotto said.

He said the Senate will still forward the resolution to Malacañang.

Sotto, however, said he does not see any possible acts of his colleagues triggering a constitutional crisis.

“The presidency and the Senate have their roles in foreign affairs. We represent the same nation but we can differ in perspectives. We believe in maintaining cordial relations with friends and allies,” he said.

The Constitution states the Senate must ratify any treaty the executive branch enters into but it is silent on whether any abrogation requires the chamber’s nod.

In the previous and present Congresses, the Senate has ratified some 25 treaties that stipulated that their termination must be consulted first with the chamber.

There is still a pending petition in the SC filed by some senators in the 17th Congress on the same question in 2018 when Duterte ordered the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute or coverage of the International Criminal Court.

‘Constitutional issue’

The decision was immediately taken up on the floor during the session yesterday, with Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Sen. Richard Gordon stressing that the President’s prerogative on treaties – particularly terminating them – was not absolute.

Sen. Francis Tolentino, who first spoke on the floor, said that had he been present when Resolution 312 was up for voting, he would have abstained even as he cited various US court decisions where they refused to rule on questions of Senate concurrence, as such is a political question. Tolentino said the country will survive without the VFA.

Drilon, however, countered that the US court rulings on treaties cannot be applied in the case of the Philippines and that the SC must not shirk from its responsibility to rule on the petitions.

“Our present system does not provide the justification to the SC to shirk from its duty and obligation to interpret the acts of the political arms of this government,” he said.

He said the resolutions ratifying 25 treaties that had the new provision on concurrence before termination are legal and binding “on the political branches of government because the Senate is partner of the President insofar as treaty-making is concerned.”

Gordon said the issues – in the case of the VFA, national security and sovereignty – raised during the ratification are the same matters that must be discussed in any abrogation.

“There must be an overt act of the Senate to continue to be part of the conversation. We must act – without attacking the President, and sharing what the President feels like – to create a justiciable situation,” Gordon said.

“We like to tell the Filipino, now there is a constitutional issue and the Supreme Court must not shirk from its responsibility,” he said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the committee on national defense and security, said “nothing much can be done now” but do a 180-day countdown upon receipt of the notice by Washington.

What is now certain, he said, is that the MDT will now be reduced to a mere paper treaty as far as the US is concerned, he said.

“Having said that, there’s no more intelligence information sharing in our fight against domestic and foreign terrorist acts, no more US military aid and financing that accounts for a good 52 percent of what they extend to the whole Asia-Pacific region,” Lacson said.

“That may not include other intangible economic benefits and security from external threats in the West Philippine Sea, as well as humanitarian aid in times of disasters, epidemics and other crises,” he said.

Sen. Joel Villanueva said he would continue to appeal to Duterte to reconsider his decision.

For his part, Sen. Christopher Go said he sees no problem if the matter is raised before the SC, adding Duterte did not make his decision overnight even as he expressed support for VFA termination.

“Let’s just wait until 2022, in July, if we want to enter into a new agreement with the US, in the (coming) 19th Congress, which I’m still part of,” Go said.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, for his part, said he is troubled by the fact that the President ordered the termination of the VFA after he revealed to the public the cancellation of his US visa.  – Cecille Suerte Felipe