The importance of VFA for us Filipinos

I’ve been wondering if the Philippines has already abrogated the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). I checked the reports on Google and the Philippine STAR reported that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr. has not received the order to officially inform the United States that the Philippines will abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which permits American troops to conduct military exercises in the Philippines. This was a report made by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana who insisted that “This is fake news. Sec Locsin has not been [ordered] yet.” Sec. Lorenzana added that it was Sec. Medialdea himself who notified him that no order from Duterte has been issued yet.

Pres. Duterte previously threatened to scrap the agreement after the revocation of the US visa of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, former chief of the nation’s police force who led the government’s drug war. Just a reminder to our readers, the VFA was crafted during the administration of then Pres. Fidel Ramos and ratified by the Senate during the presidency of Joseph Estrada. It was operationalized when then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo invited American forces back in 2002, to help the Philippines fight the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, which was on a ransom kidnapping spree that had scared away tourists and investors.

So at this point, it seems that the VFA has not yet been abrogated. However there are a lot of news that is untrue or fake news about the VFA, so until we get the final report from the mouth of DU-30 we would just wait to make our comments on whether this is good or bad for the country.

As Cabinet members and Senate leaders have pointed out, this alliance, under the Mutual Defense Treaty, needs the VFA.

At this point I would just like to emphasize that the US military has used the VFA in the past when US troops helped to provide rapid humanitarian assistance during emergencies such as killer typhoons and earthquakes. Most notable of all is the Super Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda in November 2013 or seven years ago when the Philippine government was literally paralyzed into inaction due to its leadership then. Mind you, the VFA is also needed for bilateral military cooperation in fighting terrorism as well as drug trafficking, human trafficking and other cross-border crimes. Let’s not forget the fight to recover the City of Marawi before we abrogate the VFA.

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It was heart-warming to note that the mercy flight from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the 2019-novel coronavirus (nCoV), that carried some 30 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were escorted by a team of Philippine government officials from various agencies, arrived at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga last Sunday. Of course they all understand that they have to be quarantined in Clark Air Base Athletes Village.

We learned from news reports that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the repatriated OFWs on the chartered flight that landed at the Haribon Hangar in Clark Air Base included 29 adults and an infant who all lived and worked in Wuhan City. The teams from the DFA home office in Manila and DOH flew to Wuhan on Saturday night.

The OFWs underwent screening before boarding the plane, during the flight and upon landing. The DOH said all the repatriates are free of any signs and symptoms of nCoV, which for the Philippines is good news that Filipinos living in Wuhan have not been infected by the virus.

The number of confirmed infections rose to 37,198, according to China’s National Health Commission. Eighty-nine deaths and 2,656 new cases were recorded in the preceding 24 hours, most of them in Hubei Province, the heart of the outbreak. A United States citizen living in Wuhan died from nCoV as reported by American officials.

Meanwhile it is interesting to learn that a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess of the Princess Cruise Lines, which is home ported in Yokohama, Japan was quarantined, when they found out that an 80-year-old man who left the ship in Hong Kong was found positive of the virus. The cruise liner passengers were locked by Japanese health authorities into their rooms and each one checked for any signs of the virus. When the ship arrived in Yokohama the Japanese Coast Guard removed 10 passengers found positive of the virus. Later another 10 passengers were also removed from the ship.

Meanwhile, the Princess Cruise Lines gave free Wi-Fi to passengers locked in their rooms, additional TV channels, free phone calls and food, except that the food is given to them in their rooms. Also, senior passengers were asked for their prescription medicines which the liner bought and gave to the passengers free of charge. The only question remaining is after their 14-day quarantine, what happens if a passenger is found with a virus?

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