2 more senators push for termination of VFA

At least two more senators called for the termination of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) on Tuesday, claiming the country has not benefited from the deal allowing American troops to visit the Philippines for military training. "If it's no good, by all means let's abrogate it," Senator Joker Arroyo said during the first hearing of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (LOVFA) on Tuesday. Arroyo said the government has been saying that the Philippines has been benefitting from the VFA even though there are no clear indications that it has. "The military assistance of the US to the Philippines is $100 million a year (P5 billion). However, that is not monetary. That is a combination of military equipment and goods and cash component," he said. He likewise said the VFA has granted the US the rights of "virtual basing," which he said violates the constitutional ban on foreign military bases. "No ASEAN country has US troops in their midst. We stand alone in that respect," he said. For his part, Senator Teofisto Guingona III suggested that the country terminate the VFA then negotiate it again. "Both sides (RP and US) will be starting from a clear slate and will be treating each other as equals," Guingona said during the same hearing. The VFA was signed in February 1998 and was ratified by the Philippine Senate in May 1999. It is not a mutual security agreement but is a support deal to the Mutual Defense Treary (MDT). In August, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed a joint resolution calling for the termination of the VFA. In the resolution, Santiago said the US does not recognize the VFA as a treaty because its Congress never ratified the agreement, which the Philippine Senate did in 1999. In 2009, Senator Francis Pangilinan also filed a Senate resolution saying the VFA violated the country's constitutional provision banning the presence of foreign military bases, troops, or facilities in the country. What benefits? Senators Gregorio Honasan and Ferdinand Marcos Jr., for their part, asked the members of the Presidential Commission on the VFA (PCVFA) to tell them how the country specifically benefited from the agreement. "What are we trading off? Are we serving really the national interest?" Honasan said during Tuesday's hearing. But Marcos said the government should not only consider the supposed economic and financial benefits of the VFA, but also its social costs. "I will bring some, I will put together a narrative of some of these instances," he said. But Undersecretary Edilberto Adan, executive director of the VFA Commission, insisted that the VFA is "important and helpful" to the country's national security interests. "Without access to US military assistance, enabled by the VFA, the different and expensive task of upgrading the country’s defense posture, now one of the weakest in the region, will be severely hampered," said Adan, a retired military general. He admitted, however, that it is "timely" for the government to undertake a comprehensive review of the agreement to ensure that it remains "relevant." Woes of termination For his part, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the country must be prepared to spend money to refurbish the country's defense capability if it intends to terminate the VFA. "For as long we are not willing to stregnthen our military capabilities, we are nothing. We do not have any bargaining chips against America," Enrile said during the hearing. He noted, however, that he is willing to support the abrogation of the VFA if it is the consensus. "You want it to go? I'm ready to go with you but be ready to be a slave of other countries," he said. But University of the Philippines College of Law Dean Magallona said that even if Congress enacts a law that would terminate the treaty, the VFA might still continue to be effective on the part of the US. "It can never have an effect if it is unilateral," he said, adding that the executive must be ready to communicate the termination through a "diplomatic channel." Executive Secretary Paquito "Jojo" Ochoa, chairman of the PCVFA, refused to comment on the suggestion to terminate the agreement. "We are not prepared to make a comment on that because as I’ve said, we’re still in the process of review, that review will determine the course that we will be taking," he said in an interview after the hearing. Ochoa said they aim to finish the review of the VFA before the year ends. Review of MDT Meanwhile, Arroyo, Guingona, and Senator Edgardo Angara said this might also be a good time to consider reviewing the MDT. The MDT requires the US and the Philippines to support each other when either is attacked by external forces. It was signed by representatives of the two countries in 1951 and paved the way for the VFA. Angara, however, said that the "underlying assumptions" for which the agreement was made may no longer exist. "Who is now our enemy? What is the need for the Mutual Defense Treaty?" asked Angara. "This might be a proper time to take a hard look at the MDT," added Guingona. Senator Loren Legarda, co-chair of the LOVFA, said they haven't determined yet whether to also review the MDT. She also said they are still set to conduct more hearings to discuss the issues surrounding the VFA. — RSJ, GMANews.TV