Senators are now pushing through with their plan to question before the Supeme Court (SC) President Duterte’s decision to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States.
“Nung bumitaw tayo sa ICC, kinuwestiyon ‘yan ni Sen. Drilon, ang aming Minority Leader noon, a few months ago. Kinuwestiyon niya sa Supreme Court ‘yan. Nagfile siya ng certiorari at ang pagkakaalam ko, kahapon, nakarating sa aking balita doon sa Supreme Court ay meron ng, they are ready for a decision. Hinihintay ang decision ng Supreme Court,” Sen. Tito Sotto said.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Senate President Tito Sotto said they are filing a petition to question before the SC the president’s move to unilaterally abrogate the military pact between the two allied countries.
“Hindi naman sa pinangungunahan namin ang Executive Department, pero sana ay ireconsider muna ng Pangulo bago i-abrogate. Anyway, parang may epekto pa rin naman ‘ yan kasi may 180 days pa bago totally terminated na, based on the agreement itself,” Sotto said.
Sotto said the move will not go against the executive department and is merely for clarification purposes.
Drilon also said that the Senate should be given clear instructions on the international treaties withdrawn which it previously ratified or greenlighted.
“We’ re talking about the legal issue again being elevated in the SC because it’ s in the Supreme Court from our petition to question the withdrawal from the statute,” Drilon added.
Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos and Ronald Dela Rosa said the move before the SC is no longer needed.
“Sa akin, sana pag-usapan na lamang, dahil ‘yong hidwaan sa ating lipunan ay lalawak at lalawak lang kung magdadala pa tayo ng kaso sa SC. Huwag na siguro, it will continue to polarize an already divided public opinion,” Marcos said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said even without treaties life the VFA, the Filipino people and soldiers can survive since they “know how to improvise”and “can adapt to crises the way [they] did many times before.”
“In the meantime, we remain exposed to terrorist threats, both domestic and foreign, not to mention the continuing security threat in the West Philippine Sea posed by China, and even the need for timely humanitarian response and assistance that the US is capable of deploying during disasters, natural or man-made, ” Lacson added.
Lacson said the downside of the treaty termination is the looming threat of terrorism in which the US provides intel and the humanitarian assistance extended by the American troops during times of calamities.
The VFA is the bilateral agreement between the two nations that contains the provisions in terms of presence of US military in the country which includes joint military training exercises like Balikatan. – Report from Eunice Samonte
