Duterte may again suspend VFA abrogation

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte may opt to call for a second suspension of the abrogation process for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, his spokesman said yesterday.

“That has the option of being further extended by another six months. So my thinking is, perhaps the President will invoke the second six-month time to finally abrogate the VFA,” Harry Roque said over CNN Philippines.

“But anyway, what I am saying is, there is no immediate rush for the President to decide because the notification we sent to the Americans gives them at least one year leeway before it’s abrogated,” Roque added.

Meanwhile, a congressman said it would be best and most practicable for the government to set aside the Philippines’ abrogation of the agreement, especially since Duterte’s six-month suspension of the termination will end on Dec. 2.

Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon said doing so would give Manila the needed “elbow room” for a possible renegotiation, depending on the outcome of US presidential elections.

“If we really want elbow room, an extension of the suspension would be the choice, given that there is a possibility of a new administration that would be coming in in America,” the administration legislator said in an interview on TV5’s One News’ Agenda last Tuesday.

“Because of the US elections, then we will know whether President Trump will be re-elected or former vice president Joe Biden will become the new president,” Biazon explained, noting there will be a world of difference on whoever will emerge as winner.

He said a new White House administration may mean a change in US foreign policy and extending the suspension of VFA abrogation would give the Philippines opportunity to negotiate for better terms in the agreement.

“If we will extend the suspension, then we have the elbow room whether to later push through with the termination or this election would become an opportunity for the Philippines to negotiate for terms that it deems better,” Biazon said.

He also maintained that extending the suspension would allow time for the Supreme Court to act on the petition filed by the Senate to compel President Duterte to seek the Senate’s concurrence in terminating the VFA.

On June 2, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that upon Duterte’s orders, he informed the US embassy that the Philippines has suspended the termination of the VFA “in light of political and other developments in the region.” The former publisher said the suspension would be for six months and may be extended by the Philippines for another six months “after which the tolling of the initial period” of suspension “shall resume.”

Locsin did not say, however, what the President intended to do by suspending for at least six months the 180-day countdown to the termination of the 1999 military agreement. The VFA was supposed to end on Aug. 9, or 180 days after the DFA served a notice of termination to the US embassy last Feb. 11. By June, there were about two months left in the countdown.

Biazon believes Senate concurrence was not needed in abrogating the VFA since the 1987 Constitution was silent on this.

“There’s a school of thought that says for a president to abrogate a treaty, this needs Senate ratification. But there is also a school of thought that says it’s not needed, because our Constitution is silent with regard to Senate concurrence or ratification upon exit of a treaty. But if we think of the legal arguments on it, I am of the mindset that Senate concurrence is not needed,” he said.

Biazon again reminded government officials of the looming Dec. 1 deadline of the suspension’s extension. – Delon Porcalla