{"id":246639,"date":"2020-03-01T01:05:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-01T06:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=246639"},"modified":"2020-03-01T01:05:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-01T06:05:50","slug":"possible-new-ph-us-military-pact-has-no-blessing-of-prrd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/01\/possible-new-ph-us-military-pact-has-no-blessing-of-prrd\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible new PH-US military pact has no blessing of PRRD"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Caraga State University in Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte on April 21, 2019. JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has not given his nod on efforts to craft another military deal between the Philippines and the United States as a replacement for the scrapped Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Malaca\u00f1ang said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo stressed that Duterte\u2019s stance on boosting the Philippines\u2019 defense capabilities sans the help of other countries \u201cremains unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven assuming\u00a0na totoo yun, eh yun puro rekomendasyon lang kay Presidente<\/em>\u00a0(Even assuming that is true, that\u2019s just a recommendation to the President),\u201d he told DZIQ. \u201cGusto niya pa rin na matanggal ang<\/em>\u00a0VFA.\u00a0Gusto niya talagang maging<\/em>\u00a0self-reliant\u00a0talaga. \u2018Yun ang pinaka-punto niya<\/em>\u00a0(He wants VFA scrapped. He wants the country to be really self-reliant. That\u2019s his main point).\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Philippine Ambassador to US Jose Manuel Romualdez said talks are ongoing between Manila and Washington to \u201ccome up with something similar\u201d to VFA.<\/p>\n

Panelo, however, said Duterte did not give Romualdez the authority to negotiate with his counterpart, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, to craft a new military agreement between the two countries.<\/p>\n

He added that it could be the US\u2019s initiative to create a new military pact with the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalang basbas ni Presidente.\u00a0<\/em>Initiative\u00a0siguro \u2018yun ng<\/em>\u00a0counterpart ni Ambassador Romualdez.\u00a0Syempre, sila ang apektado eh. Kaya sila ang mag-i-<\/em>initiate\u00a0ng magandang panukala<\/em>\u00a0(It has no blessing from the President. Perhaps, it\u2019s the initiative of Ambassador Romualdez\u2019s counterpart. They are the ones affected. That\u2019s why they\u2019re initiating such proposal),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The VFA, a 1998 agreement between the Manila and Washington, allows American forces to enter the Philippines without passport and visa to allow them to participate in joint military drills in the host country.<\/p>\n

The Philippines, however, sent a formal notice of termination to the US on February 11.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old military deal is effectively abrogated, 180 days after the US received the termination notice.<\/p>\n

Panelo reiterated that Duterte revoked the VFA because he wants the Philippines to rely on its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalagang ang paniniwala niya, ang bansa natin ay dapat tumayo bilang isang bansa.<\/em>\u00a0On our own.\u00a0Hindi pu-pwedeng palagi na lang tayong umaasa sa ibang bansa para ipagtanggol natin ang ating mga sarili<\/em>\u00a0(His belief is our country should stand on its own feet, on our own. We could not always rely on other countries to defend our country),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eventual abrogation of 2 other military deals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo also maintained that the Philippines would eventually scrap the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay pa \u2018yun hanggang ngayon pero<\/em>\u00a0eventually\u00a0papunta na tayo doon<\/em>\u00a0(The two agreements are still there, but eventually, these will be terminated. In other words),\u201d he said, referring to MDT and EDCA.<\/p>\n

Asked if there is already an order from Duterte to review MDT or EDCA, Panelo said: \u201cThey don\u2019t have to be told by the President.\u00a0Palaging merong review<\/em>. (There is always a review.\u201d<\/p>\n

MDT seeks to step up the defense and security cooperation between the US and Philippine troops, while EDCA aims to enhance military ties in maritime security and domain.<\/p>\n

The other existing military pact between the Philippines and Washington is the 1947 Military Assistance Agreement, which intends to give advice and training to the Armed Forces of the Philippines through the Joint US Military Assistance Group.<\/p>\n

Military deals with other states \u2018still safe\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meantime, Panelo said other existing military agreements with other countries remain \u201csafe,\u201d unless there is a \u201ccompelling\u201d reason for Duterte to scrap the deals.<\/p>\n

Panelo, however, ensured that Duterte would make a move based on \u201cnational interest and general welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Yung<\/em>\u00a0(The) compelling reason will depend on the President. That\u2019s his call,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cSi Presidente<\/em>, he\u2019s very calculating\u00a0person. Nag-iisip iyan. Matagal niyang pinag-iisipan iyan. Dahan-dahan. Ganoon ang Presidente natin<\/em>\u00a0(He thinks and it takes time for him to think. He\u2019s not in a rush. That\u2019s how the President acts).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has not given his nod on efforts to craft another military deal between the Philippines and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":211082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","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\/246639","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=246639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246641,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246639\/revisions\/246641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}