Senate duty-bound to review VFA - Loren

MANILA, Philippines - Citing several contentious provisions of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States, Sen. Loren Legarda said Congress is duty-bound to review the treaty.

Legarda said the Legislative Oversight Committee on the VFA (LOVFA), which she co-chairs, is compelled to review the treaty to ensure that provisions of the agreement would not be disadvantageous to the country. 

“We are mandated to review the VFA and to consider this in the light of the numerous calls for action on reported inequities and legal questions characterizing the agreement. In this regard, we shall ask the Presidential Commission on the VFA to immediately forward to us its comprehensive report on the implementation of the agreement covering the past 11 years,” she said. Legarda said the committee will also request stakeholders concerned to share their views toward generating a very comprehensive review that will allow them to come up with a decision that will serve the best interest of the Filipino people. Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada is wondering why President Aquino has delegated the power to review that was vested in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to his executive secretary, Paquito Ochoa Jr.

Estrada said he is open to a review of the VFA with the participation of the Senate because it is the body that ratifies the VFA.   

“This is the call of Senator Legarda (as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee), I’m willing to share my insights,” Estrada said, noting that the VFA was first implemented during the term of his father, former President Joseph Estrada.

Sen. Franklin Drilon and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile have expressed support for Malacañang’s call for VFA review. Both agreed that the review should be left to the executive department.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, on the other hand, has been vocal that the VFA review should be done with the participation of the Senate.

Legarda also explained that the review was meant to achieve a genuine fine-tuning of the divisive provisions of the agreement. She said these things must be identified along with the issue of jurisdiction on military personnel accused in a criminal case, the kind of activities that the US military may undertake with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the duration of such exercises, which must only be temporary. 

She also noted that the Philippines considered the VFA a treaty and was duly ratified by the Philippine Senate, but the US did not consider it a treaty and did not send the same to the US Senate for concurrence.

“We need to know how this affects the enforcement of the agreement. We always have to keep in mind that in reviewing the VFA, or any bilateral agreement, we should be guided by two main principles – its constitutionality and the national interest. We have to ensure that the agreement would lead towards the enhancement of the welfare of our people,” Legarda said.