PH terminates VFA
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 16:25:16 +0000
The Philippines had officially informed the United States that it was terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said on Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night ordered Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to direct Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to send the notice to the US government.
Locsin said the Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy received the notice of termination.
Panelo said the notice of termination would take effect 180 days from the time of receipt.
Despite the move, he added that the country’s ties with the US remains warm.
On Monday, Duterte said US President Donald Trump and “others” tried to “save” the VFA.
Panelo, however, said the two presidents have not talked.
“Perhaps there have been some emissaries sent to the President about the desire of the President of the US,” the spokesman added.
Panelo said the decision to end the agreement “is a consequence of a series of legislative and executive actions by the US government that bordered on assaulting our sovereignty and disrespecting our judicial system.”
He added that the President believed that the Philippines “can not forever rely on other countries” for the state’s defense and should instead strengthen its own resources “for our defenses.”
The Bayan Muna party-list welcomed the government’s move.
“This is good news for all the victims of US military atrocities in the country. And since President Duterte is apparently serious in removing American troops from our land, then we advise him to take it further and abrogate the US-PH Mutual Defense Treaty,” Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite said.
“It is good that the Duterte government has made true this bluff, but we caution him against signing another lopsided military agreement with a different global military superpower, one that would violate our sovereignty, and put us in danger of being involved in conflicts that are not ours,” he added.
No exercises
A US official warned that the joint exercises and operations between Manila and Washington might end with the abrogation of the VFA.
R. Clarke Cooper, US State Department’s assistant secretary for political-military affairs, said in a telephone news briefing that a bilateral strategic dialogue would be held between the two countries in March where they are expected to discuss various issues including the VFA.
The US has more than 300 engagements and different exercises conducted bilaterally with the Philippines such as the yearly “Balikatan” (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises, which trains Philippine soldiers on counterterrorism and maritime defense.
“What’s at risk without a VFA? Well, without a VFA, it puts at risk things like these engagements, like these exercises,” Cooper told reporters.
“So again, from an interagency standpoint at home in the United States, and from the inter-ministerial standpoint in Manila, there’s a recognized, broad value of not only maintaining our Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that will beget further procurements and interoperability between the US-Philippines alliance, but the very practical application of a Visiting Forces Agreement that enables these activities like port calls, like engagements, like exercises,” he explained.
Cooper said a “significant amount” of resources would also be put to risk.
He explained that the VFA provides a framework that allows the US to conduct various activities with their Philippine counterparts. Without the VFA, Cooper said “we do put at risk those activities that the different defenses, the different services in the Philippines very much value.”
“Because of outstanding shared interests when it comes to freedom of navigation, freedom of movement, joint security interests, future procurements — this is part of the broader dialogue as to why there remains value in the Visiting Forces Agreement,” Cooper pointed out.
The US has been vocal in opposing intrusions into disputed territories, including the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea), which China is claiming.
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