{"id":243562,"date":"2020-01-30T20:48:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T01:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=243562"},"modified":"2020-01-30T20:48:58","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T01:48:58","slug":"vfa-termination-is-studied-tactical-decision-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/01\/30\/vfa-termination-is-studied-tactical-decision-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"VFA termination is \u2018studied, tactical\u2019 decision: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on December 20, 2019. REY BANIQUET\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s move to scrap the Philippines\u2019 22-year-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States (US) is a \u201cstudied\u201d and \u201ctactical\u201d decision, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte has sufficient grounds to scrap the VFA, but could not spill additional information which he deems as classified matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision of the President to terminate the VFA is a studied decision. It is a tactical and strategical decision stated by him,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace press briefing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, he has something in his mind which was not shared with us, which is of course a privilege of the chief architect of the foreign policy of this country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In a media interview on Wednesday, Duterte said the revocation of VFA between Manila and Washington would push through.<\/p>\n

Panelo maintained that Duterte had no choice but terminate VFA because of the \u201cbrazen interference\u201d and \u201cdisrespect\u201d of US Senate with the Philippines\u2019 judicial system.<\/p>\n

He said the US\u2019 demand to release detained Senator Leila de Lima, passage of a resolution condemning Duterte\u2019s drug war, imposition of travel ban order against Philippine officials linked to De Lima\u2019s arrest, and cancellation of Senator Ronald dela Rosa\u2019s US visa were Duterte\u2019s \u201cprimary reasons\u201d to scrap VFA.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi niya<\/em>\u00a0(Duterte) final\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0(He said it\u2019s already final),\u201d Panelo said. \u201cWe will have to write them formally. Then the effectivity is 180 days after.\u201d<\/p>\n

The VFA, which was inked by the Philippines and the US on Feb. 10, 1998, allows US troops to visit the Philippines sans passport and visa restrictions and gives them the privilege to use their permits and licenses in the host country.<\/p>\n

The agreement also grants the US jurisdiction over its military personnel who commit crimes in the Philippines unless their lawless acts can be punished in Manila.<\/p>\n

The deal can be revoked by the Philippines by sending a formal notification to the US.<\/p>\n

No impact on Pembertos\u2019 conviction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the impending cancellation of VFA, the Philippines will retain its jurisdiction over the case of US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton who is currently detained at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Panelo stressed.<\/p>\n

Panelo ensured that the termination of the agreement would not have an impact on Pemberton\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acquired jurisdiction over him (Pemberton) and therefore, the jurisdiction remains. You must remember that the VFA states that we cannot acquire jurisdiction unless of particular importance and we already did that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHence, logic will tell us that the termination of VFA will not affect the acquisition of jurisdiction by the Philippine courts,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Olongapo Regional Trial Court in 2015 found Pemberton guilty of killing transgender Filipino woman Jennifer Laude.<\/p>\n

Pemberton was sentenced to serve a jail term of up to six years.<\/p>\n

\u2018Protest\u2019 vs. US<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apart from revoking the VFA, Duterte also directed Cabinet secretaries, except Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., to refrain from travelling to US.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the President\u2019s travel ban order covers the \u201cpersonal and family\u201d trips of Cabinet officials to Washington.<\/p>\n

He said that Duterte\u2019s directive, which is \u201cmore of a protest against US actions,\u201d also effectively applies to other government officials, as well as to the presidential family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to defer to the President\u2019s wishes,\u201d the Palace official said. \u201cMy personal insight on that decision\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0(on the) boycott is more of a protest\u00a0sa ginawa nila, sa ginagawa nila sa mga kababayan natin<\/em>\u00a0(against the US\u2019s actions that are disadvantageous to our fellow countrymen).\u201d<\/p>\n

Not appeasing China, Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo also clarified that Duterte\u2019s latest pronouncements against the US were not meant to bolster ties with China and Russia.<\/p>\n

He said the Chief Executive was merely piqued by the US government\u2019s actions against his administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot necessarily. His decision was mainly based on the actions of the US government, with respect to the US Senate and the US Immigration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about time that we, as a country, (rely) on our own resources. We cannot be relying on others. We have to strengthen our capability in defending ourselves from foreign intrusions. By relying mainly on one particular country, you lessen your capability from the moment that alliance with that country is terminated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s move to scrap the Philippines\u2019 22-year-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States (US) is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":240525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243563,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243562\/revisions\/243563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}