Locsin asks Lorenzana to start process of terminating VFA
Credit to Author: Javier J. Ismael| Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2020 06:13:48 +0000
FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has instructed Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to “start the process” of terminating the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States.
Locsin, who heads the VFA panel for the government, also clarified on Twitter that he was leaving for Washington DC on totally VFA-unrelated matters but has called on Secretary Lorenzana, the vice chairman, to start the process of terminating the defense agreement between the Philippines and the US.
Locsin advised Lorenzana to call the Senate foreign relations committee since the VFA was a treaty in the Philippines. The VFA on the side of the US was entered into by its executive branch.
President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to terminate the VFA if the US won’t recall the cancellation Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s visa.
The US Senate has passed a resolution banning Dela Rosa, then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, and several others from entering the US for their role in the arrest of Senator Leila de Lima on drug charges.
The US has repeatedly called for the release of de Lima who is detained at Camp Crame, the national headquarters of the PNP.
The US embassy’s cancellation of dela Rosa’s visa angered the President who threatened to terminate the VFA in retaliation.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate national defense committee, said that the VFA between the Philippines and United States was a bilateral accord that went through diplomatic channels prior to ratification by the Philippine Senate.
The US visa is a conditional authorization unilaterally given to a visiting foreigner which may be granted, canceled or even denied outright, without need for explanation or justification.
Lacson said that in the absence of a Philippine Supreme Court ruling on the President’s power to unilaterally break a treaty or bilateral agreement like the VFA without the consent of 2/3 of the members of the Senate, the President may revoke the agreement even without the Senate’s approval.