{"id":245274,"date":"2020-02-18T18:53:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T23:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=245274"},"modified":"2020-02-18T18:53:20","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T23:53:20","slug":"ph-can-boost-military-capabilities-sans-vfa-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/18\/ph-can-boost-military-capabilities-sans-vfa-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"PH can boost military capabilities sans VFA: experts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
VFA TERMINATION. Ramon Casiple (middle), Executive Director of Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER), agrees on the stand of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff, Gen. Felimon Santos Jr. on the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), during the Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery Cafe in Quezon City on Monday (February 17, 2020). Also in photo are forum moderator Wilson Lee Flores (left), and UP Professor Bobby Tuazon (right), Director for Policy Studies and in-house policy analyst of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 The Philippines can be self-reliant when it comes to enhancing its military\u2019s defense capabilities, experts said on Monday, following President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s move to abrogate Manila\u2019s 22-year-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with Washington DC.<\/p>\n

In a media forum held in Quezon City, political analyst Ramon Casiple said the Philippines can give support to Filipino troops and combat terrorism even without the VFA.<\/p>\n

The Philippines, hence, does not need the scrapped military deal, Casiple said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKailangan ba natin \u2018yun para makatayo? Ang sagot ko diyan: hindi<\/em>\u00a0(Do we need that for us to rise? My answer is no),\u201d he said. \u201cWe can do all that without the VFA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, sent the formal notice of termination of the VFA to the US government on February 11.<\/p>\n

The agreement will be abrogated 180 days after the US receives the formal termination notice from the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Casiple said the VFA merely gives Washington DC the \u201cpleasure\u201d than Manila.<\/p>\n

He also echoed Philippine officials\u2019 stance that the military pact was more advantageous to American forces than Filipino troops.<\/p>\n

\u201cAko ang tingin ko<\/em>\u00a0(The way I see it), we don\u2019t need VFA as a necessity in terms of even our national security. In fact, it\u2019s an argument\u00a0kung bakit humina \u2018yung\u00a0<\/em>military natin<\/em>\u00a0(why our military weakened).\u00a0Kasi naging usapin dito \u2018yung palaging sinasabi ng mga<\/em>\u00a0pro-VFA\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0(Because those who are pro-VFA are always saying), \u2018You need the US,\u2019\u201d Casiple said.<\/p>\n

The VFA, signed in February 1998 by the two nations, allows visiting US soldiers to arrive in the Philippines without visa and passport restrictions. It also gives them the privilege to use their permits and licenses in the host country.<\/p>\n

Former ambassador to the United States Reynaldo Arcilla, who was also a guest speaker at the media forum, viewed the VFA as a useless military deal.<\/p>\n

Citing the admission of an unnamed retired military general, Arcilla said the training provided under the VFA is \u201cnot actually training in the sense of military welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More advantageous to PH<\/strong>
\nA day after Manila sent the formal termination notice to Washington DC, US President Donald Trump said on February 11 that it was fine that Duterte scrapped the VFA because the US would be able to \u201csave a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte was elated that Trump understood and respected his decision to revoke the VFA, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said on February 15.<\/p>\n

George Siy, head of the Integrated Development Studies Institute, said the Philippines would benefit from the abrogation of the VFA because it can now pursue its independent foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMas may<\/em>\u00a0leverage\u00a0tayo kapag tayo ay<\/em>\u00a0independent (We have more leverage when we act as an independent state). I\u2019m not saying we should break ties (with the US). Our policy should be for an independent foreign policy,\u201d Siy said at the forum.<\/p>\n

Casiple said the Philippines can boost its military capabilities without relying on other countries, like its long-time ally, the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn independent country\u00a0kagaya natin, lalo na may<\/em>\u00a0independent foreign policy,\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0usual logic is that\u00a0kung gusto mo ng<\/em>\u00a0pro-military, you would enhance it,\u00a0hindi \u2018yung mag<\/em>-depend\u00a0ka<\/em>\u00a0on other countries (An independent country like us, especially since we have an independent foreign policy, the usual logic is you would enhance your defense capabilities and not depend on other countries if you\u2019re pro-military),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Be ready for consequences<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, the University of the Philippines professor Bobby Tuazon warned the government of possible grave repercussions of Duterte\u2019s move to scrap the VFA.<\/p>\n

Tuazon said the current administration should be ready to face \u201cbigger\u201d challenges, such as the military and economic sanctions that might be imposed by the US against the Philippines.<\/p>\n

He also cautioned that Washington might implement possible visa restrictions for Filipinos and might take \u201cretaliatory actions\u201d against Filipinos residing and working in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Duterte administration should be prepared for this. It will invite some strong diplomatic reactions or sanctions from the US,\u201d Tuazon said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2014 The Philippines can be self-reliant when it comes to enhancing its military\u2019s defense capabilities, experts said on Monday, following …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":245275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245274","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\/245274","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=245274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245276,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245274\/revisions\/245276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}