The Left called President Rodrigo Duterte out on his latest threat to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US, daring him to “just do it already.”
Duterte again said he would scrap the defense pact after the US Millennium Challenge Corporation withheld millions of dollars in aid over concerns at the thousands of deaths from the administration’s war on drugs.
“We have heard this warning many times. It's time for the President to make real his pronouncements. He has our support on this one,” Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said in a statement Sunday.
“It is time to end the VFA and expel the US troops that have been permanently stationed in the Philippines. It is time we stop being a US neo-colony,” he added.
At the same time, Reyes blasted the US’ “unparalleled hypocrisy,” claiming the “real reason for the withdrawal of US funding is … retaliation over Duterte's independent foreign policy and assertion of sovereignty against the US.”
“The US wants to use human rights to pressure Duterte to backtrack on his assertion of Independence,” he claimed.
Nevertheless, Reyes stressed that they “hold the Duterte government accountable” for “the continuing human rights violations in the Philippines” and called on the President “to stop the killings, stop the US-directed counterinsurgency program and free all political prisoners.”
http://interaksyon.com/article/135365/just-do-it--bayan-calls-out-duterte-on-latest-threat-to-scrap-vfa
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.