Philippine foreign policy 101
The whole nation is on a crossroad of equivocations, anxieties, and a nagging fear of the unknown. President Rody Duterte, by his pronouncements and tone, appears to be leading the country to the left, while seemingly cutting ties with the west and the NATO-aligned superpowers.
There is a very clear shift to the side of Russia and China and a not-so-subtle turning back from Uncle Sam. He had some harsh remarks against the US and the United Nations, and some projections of asserting ourselves as truly an independent and sovereign state.
To our mind, there is nothing wrong for our country in embracing an independent foreign policy. The President, under our Constitution, is the chief architect of our foreign policy. And so, as our top national leader, we do not begrudge the president for performing his constitutional mandate.
We hasten to interject a caveat, however. Do we really have to antagonize our long-time treaty ally, America, with whom we have had longer than a century of historic ties? Do we have to catch the ire of one superpower that is ready to stand by us, especially with our problems in the west Philippine sea?
Under the Constitutional provisions on declaration of principles and state policies, our country renounces war as an instrument of national policies and we adopt the generally-accepted principles of international law as part of the law of our land. Our republic also adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations.
According to a famous constitutionalist, Fr Joaquin Bernas, SJ, a member of the 1987 Constitutional Commission and former dean of the Ateneo Law School, the overriding guiding policy of our foreign policy is national interest.
One of the powers of the president is to negotiate treaties with other sovereign states, and later to enter into such treaties with the subsequent ratification by the Senate, by a vote of two-thirds of its members, or the concurrence of at least sixteen among the 24 senators. The president can enter into executive agreements without the need for Senate concurrence. It was on this basis that former president PNoy signed the EDCA or Enhanced Cooperation Agreement with the US. President Duterte is not too warm towards EDCA. In fact, he warned that he is no longer allowing any war games with the US anymore.
The president also appoints ambassadors, consuls, and other diplomats and receives all ambassadors and other diplomats from other countries accredited with the Philippine government. Also, the president has the exclusive power to contract or guarantee foreign loans on behalf of the president. The president also has the power to deport aliens and declare persons as "persona non grata." President Duterte has all these powers.
Whatever he does and wherever he shall bring the nation to, we believe, that what matters most, what is of paramount consideration, is national interests.
No less and no more.
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