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SENATE leaders are in no rush to address calls to terminate the PR-US Visiting Forces Agreement. USA (VFA).
“Give us time to review, rethink and evaluate our defense relations,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Thursday.
When asked if senators are looking to come up with a “new” VFA that provides better conditions, Sotto said “it is not necessary.”
“We can just reach some agreement on amendments,” said the Senate leader.
Sotto suggested, for example, that it could include “a provision on the automatic defense posture of the United States against any aggression against the Philippines.”
However, the Senate leader added that he would still need to verify if that would still require the Senate’s concurrence. “Depends. Maybe not. I’ll have to check.”
In a radio interview, Sotto expressed his support for the review of the defense agreement, as a result of the recent signals from the Executive that indicate that President Duterte may go back again in the “six-month” rescission process.
Duterte initially ordered Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to deliver a VFA termination notice to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, following what Palace officials described as a series of frustrating events, capped by the cancellation. of your close ex’s US visa. aide, now Senator Ronald de la Rosa.
Midway through the six-month termination process that begins to run with the notification service, Locsin, by order of the Palace, notified the United States government that Manila decided to suspend the termination process.
Extended suspension
Earlier this week, Locsin hinted that the VFA suspension period, which was due to end in December, will continue.
In his Asia Society address, he told the audience: “Let me assure you that by suspending the repeal, not a single player in the South China Sea is unhappy, concerned or anything; but totally satisfied to have suspended the repeal because it has restored the status quo ante, it has returned everything as they have done since the Second World War “.
When asked what would happen to the VFA in December, Locsin said: “I don’t know. We will analyze the situation. “
During a tense moment in September, the Americans twice sent a battle group to the South China Sea apparently to show their commitment to defending their Asian allies. This coincided with the Chinese conducting military exercises in the disputed waters.
“An American powerhouse has been on full display ever since. The Seventh Fleet has been deployed. The Air Force has been deployed. Tensions are rising in the South China Sea across Southeast Asia. I reported this to the president, ”Locsin said.
“I said in the Asia Society that the US military presence in Asia is essential for stability and that is basic,” Locsin recalled in an interview with CNN Philippines this week.
“That is the basic theory of the balance of power. You need them because, even among best friends, even among very good friends, if a guy feels that he [inaudible] over the other, I could take that advantage, however, if the other guy has another friend in the area, then I think they all start thinking 10 times before exaggerating, so I said, there is no question in my mind, the United States it is an essential hegemonic presence in Asia ”, he added.
So would you recommend continuation of the Visiting Forces Agreement after the suspension of the repeal ends in December? Asked Pinky Webb, host of CNN Philippines.
Locsin said that he will study it “and at the same time I have great respect for the wisdom of my president.”
