PRESIDENT DUTERTE has backed out for the second time to junk the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with Washington.
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| A United States military high speed vessel was spotted October 2005 off Zamboanga City. (Al Jacinto) |
Duterte vowed to terminate the VFA with the United States after Washington cancelled the visa of former Philippine police chief and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa, and forbidden his Cabinet members to go to the United States.
“I am terminating. I was not joking. The day I said it was the day that I decided it should be terminated. Alam mo sabi nila na it’s my — subject to my whim, ‘yung kapritso. No. It started when they mentioned about the resolution in the US Senate. They were trying to figure — trying to figure out who would be the persons who will be barred from entering. Noon pa lang nag — ‘yung utak ko gumagalaw na. Ganun ako eh, hindi naman ako naghihintay,” he told reporters last year.
“Pero at that time I have decided that if they do this… And I will do it not only for Dela Rosa, but for every Filipino. Lalo na ‘yung mga taga-gobyerno na magpunta doon supposedly to attend a business concern officially. I will limit siguro sa Foreign Affairs. But I will not allow any Cabinet member to go there at this time. No Cabinet member should be allowed to go to the United States. I will ask them to not to go to the United States in the meantime, parang boycott,” he added.
Dela Rosa was the chief architect of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs called “Oplan Tokhang,” where thousands of suspected drug pushers had been killed in police operation.
Duterte also declined then President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the US-ASEAN summit for a still unknown reason. And Trump signed the 2020 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill which included a provision that prohibits the entry of “foreign government officials involved in the wrongful imprisonment of Senator Leila de Lima, who was arrested in the Philippines in 2017.”
The provision is also in line with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, allowing the US government to impose sanctions on foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses in any part of the world.
Democrat Senators Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy introduced the amendment which the US Senate Appropriations Committee passed in September. The two senators are among the US lawmakers who have earlier said that De Lima's detention was politically motivated, according to a report by CNN Philippines.
Former police chief and also senator, Panfilo Lacson, reacted to Duterte’s statement and said “an indefinite travel ban to the United States imposed on all members of the Cabinet could have adverse consequences on our country’s economy and security, not to mention the many employed Filipino immigrants there, especially if the US retaliates to the recent tirades of President Duterte.”
He said the Philippines is exporting at least $10 billion worth of goods annually to the US, and accounts for 52% of the total US military support and assistance to the entire Asia-Pacific region. “Considering all these, I hope some of the Cabinet members will have the courage and sensibility to speak to the President to reconsider,” he said.
The VFA, signed in February 1998, allows American soldiers to visit the Philippines without passport and visa to pave the way for their participation in joint military drills. Manila sent a formal notice to Washington of the termination of the VFA on February 11 last year only to recall it and just suspended the accord for 6 months.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said: “The Department welcomes the Government of the Philippines’ decision to again suspend termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement.”
“We value the Philippines as an equal, sovereign partner in our bilateral Alliance. Our partnership contributes not only to the security of our two nations, but also strengthens the rules-based order that benefits all nations in the Indo-Pacific.”
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin after meeting with Duterte posted a video to Twitter and announced the government’s decision to halt plans to withdraw from the VFA.
“The president conveyed to us his decision to extend the suspension of the abrogation of the visiting forces agreement by another six months while he studies and both sides further address his concerns regarding particular aspects of the agreement,” said Locsin.
Last year, the United States voiced concern over the Philippine government-ordered shutdown of the country’s top broadcaster ABS-CBN, which has been targeted by Duterte.
“We are concerned by the situation regarding ABS-CBN,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. “An independent media plays a critical role in facilitating the open exchange of information and ideas which is vital to free, prosperous and secure democratic societies,” she said, adding, that free media was especially vital in promoting public health amid the global Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is true for the United States, the Philippines, as well as countries around the world,” she said.
ABS-CBN was forced off the air over the stalled renewal of its operating license, which Duterte had repeatedly pledged to block. Duterte had regularly assailed the media powerhouse, which he accuses of failing to air his ads during the 2016 presidential election despite accepting payment to do so.
The Philippines is a former colony and treaty ally of the United States but tensions have grown over Duterte’s signature policy of cracking down on drugs, a campaign in which police have killed thousands of people.
Trump said ending the troop agreement would save the United States money. (Mindanao Examiner, USNI, AFP)
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