Militants simply not giving up on EDCA

From Malaya Business Insight (Feb 4): Militants simply not giving up on EDCA

REPRESENTATIVES of Bayan Muna party-list yesterday asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its earlier affirmation of the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between Manila and Washington.

In an 83-page motion, Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate asked the High Court to reverse its decision last month and declare EDCA unconstitutional.

The petitioners reiterated their position that EDCA is a treaty that needs the concurrence of the Senate and not an executive agreement and that the 10 magistrates of the High Court, who voted in favor of the EDCA, erred in ruling that it is an Executive agreement.

“The decision lacks legitimacy, especially in light of the Senate’s demand to submit EDCA for deliberation by the legislature,” they said.

They also stood firm in their belief that EDCA would lay down the ground for the establishment of US military bases in the country despite clear prohibition under the Constitution and the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Those who voted against the EDCA were Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Arturo Brion, Estela Perlas - Bernabe and Marvic Leonen.

Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza took no part since he defended the government’s position on the agreement when he was still Solicitor General.

The petitioners also said contrary to the position taken by the majority who voted in favor of EDCA, the agreement would not benefit the country in boosting its military capability amid the ongoing territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).

“We cannot expect the US to fly to our side the moment confrontations escalate to defend our home front. No such promise has been made, nor will be fulfilled,’’ they said, adding that the EDCA is a treaty that expands the coverage of the MDT and the VFA.

In affirming the constitutionality of the agreement, the SC said in its decision penned by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno that under Article XVIII, Section 25 of the 1987 Constitution, the President can enter into an executive agreement on foreign military bases, troops, or facilities if “it is not the instrument that allows the presence of foreign military bases, troops or facilities, or it merely aims to implement an existing law or treaty and holding that the
Edca is one such executive agreement.”

The SC further ruled that EDCA is not the instrument that allows US “troops or facilities” to enter as the Visiting Forces Agreement already has done that, citing its earlier decision in Lim v. Executive Secretary, where it also stated that the Constitution continues to govern the conduct of foreign military troops in the Philippines.

Under the EDCA, the US will be allowed to build structures, store as well as preposition weapons, defense supplies and materiel, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels, and aircraft for a period of 10 years.

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