Govt admits military pact with US ‘flawed’

From the Manila Standard Today (Oct 31): Govt admits military pact with US ‘flawed’

THE country’s Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States is indeed flawed, but renegotiating it at this time will be troublesome and may mean that Manila will have to forgo its benefits, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Thursday.

“It’s not a perfect agreement. It’s an imperfect agreement but given that, it’s not plausible for us to amend (it) at this time,” Del Rosario said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.

Besides, Del Rosario said re-negotiating the VFA will mean the government would have to terminate it first and that will affect not only national security, but also the modernization of the Armed Forces as well as the interoperability training of Filipino servicemen.

“We need to abrogate and if we abrogate, it interrupts the benefit of the mutual defense treaty with regards to joint exercise between our two armed forces. It consequences the modernization, the joint training, the inter-operability,” the foreign secretary said.

“I think the Visiting Forces Agreement is a necessary element of the Mutual Defense Treaty because as I said it defines the behavior of the visiting forces,” Del Rosario said, referring to the 1951 agreement which obliges both countries to come to each other’s aid in event of armed foreign attack.

Del Rosario admitted that the country’s State of Visiting Forces Agreement with Australia was more balanced in terms of jurisdiction and custody of erring personnel, but the agreement with Canberra was ratified in 2012 while the one with Washington was ratified in 1999.

The foreign secretary made the admission amid calls for the termination of the VFA after the killing of Filipino transgender Jeffrey Laude in Olongapo City. US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton is suspected of involvement in the killing.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago and Rep. Walden Bello filed a measure seeking a joint congressional resolution urging the termination of the VFA because of the killing of Laude.

Santiago and Bello also wanted the VFA abrogated because of what they claimed of its one-sided effects in favor of the US and against the Philippines sovereignty, environment and human rights.

Santiago, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and the Legislative Oversight Committee on the VFA, said the agreement was being used to shield transgressions made by US military on Philippine soil, which she said seriously infringe on the country’s ability to prosecute these criminal acts.

But President Benigno S. Aquino III rejected calls for the abrogation of the VFA and Malacañang officials stressed that the government stands firm in upholding its defense cooperation agreement with the United States.

“The President has already stated that the Philippines needs the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which forms an integral part of our national defense strategy,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin also vouched for the VFA, saying that it remains an important strategy for the Philippines, particularly its defense capabilities.

“Its (VFA) abrogation now will have an adverse effect on the minimum credible defense posture that we are working hard to achieve,” Gazmin said.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/10/31/govt-admits-military-pact-with-us-flawed-/