By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA
MANILA — A review of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States, a product of the Cold War that ended three decades ago, is “long overdue,” an expert said Thursday.
“The MDT, originally directed versus China and Russia, is the mother treaty for the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) and EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement), bases and other forms of US military presence. Either we have an MDT with all big powers, or not have any with any power. The strategy is to be friends of all and to be an enemy of none,” political science professor Roland Simbulan of the University of the Philippines said.
“A review of the MDT is long overdue since it was a product of the Cold War which has long ended for three decades,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered the review of the 67-year-old MDT between Manila and Washington to assess if there is a need to maintain, strengthen, or abrogate the defense pact in view if its relevance to the country’s national interest.
The MDT, signed in 1951, contains eight articles requiring the two Pacific allies to provide aid in case of an armed attack against either Washington or Manila by an external party.
In the past, Washington’s commitment to the agreement had been put into question when tensions escalated between Manila and Beijing over its territorial row in the South China Sea.
Previously, Lorenzana said the agreement, signed more than 10 years before Filipino troops occupied claimed areas in the West Philippines Sea, does not cover the disputed territories. He added that the US government has also been “ambivalent” in the maritime row.
Committed to MDT obligations
While there is no specific reaction over Manila’s move to look into the six-decade-old treaty, the US has maintained its commitment to the agreement.
In an e-mail sent to the PNA on Thursday, the US embassy’s press attaché, Molly Koscina, said, “We have a strong and robust security alliance with the Philippines, and the United States stands by its Mutual Defense Treaty obligations.”
“As Ambassador Kim said on CNN Philippines on December 19, ‘Our commitment to this alliance is absolute, it’s ironclad’,” she said.
In a Twitter post Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said the review is a “bit pointless” without the US bases in the Philippines.
However, it could be strengthened by including any “aggressive move” against Washington or Manila as a trigger to invoke the treaty.
“The MDT can be improved by making any aggressive move versus US or Philippines a trigger for all-out war without need of approval of either Congress. A good war sanctifies any cause,” he said.
