Palace ready to defend constitutionality of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with U.S.

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 30): Palace ready to defend constitutionality of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with U.S.

Malacanang is ready to defend the constitutionality of the recently signed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the United States and the Philippine governments, a Palace official said Wednesday.

“If some people choose to avail of judicial processes to question the agreement’s constitutionality, the government is prepared to defend the EDCA,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters in a press briefing.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has criticized President Benigno S. Aquino III for allowing the signing of the agreement, saying the Senate and the Executive Branch are supposed to share the power to make treaties.

Santiago was also quoted by press reports as saying that the signing of EDCA will strain Philippine-Chinese relations.

According to news reports, former Senator Joker Arroyo said the Senate should have been consulted before the signing of the EDCA.

Arroyo further commented that the Philippines has nothing to gain from the agreement.

“We defer in the opinion with Senator Joker Arroyo,” Lacierda said, adding that the country stands to gain a lot from the EDCA.

He said among the benefits is the modernization of the military hardware of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“An enhanced feature of the EDCA is the emphasis on humanitarian assistance on disaster response, which we saw very, very clearly in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda,” explained Lacierda.

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