THE Palace ignored a Senate resolution Wednesday that said the country’s Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or Edca was a treaty and therefore needed the approval of the Senate, and said it would await a Supreme Court decision on the issue.
“We are abiding by the legal process; hence we are awaiting SC decision. [The] Senate is well within its rights to deliberate on and enact resolutions,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a text message to the press.
Most senators on Tuesday agreed with Senantor Miriam Defensor-Santiago that the Edca, which allows American troops access to Philippine military bases, is a treaty that requires the concurrence of the Senate.
Voting 15-1-3, the senators approved Santiago’s resolution as the Supreme Court postponed its vote on the constitutionality of the agreement, which was supposed to take place on Tuesday, to Nov. 16
Those who voted in favor of the resolution were Santiago and Senators Juan Edgardo Angara; Nancy Binay; JV Ejercito; Francis Escudero, Teofisto Guingona III, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Serge Osmeña III, Aquilino Pimentel III, Grace Poe, Ralph Recto, and Cynthia Villar.
The 15th vote came from Senator Pia Cayetano, who was not at the session hall during the vote, but later manifested that she was voting in the affirmative.
Only Senator Antonio Trillanes IV voted against the resolution.
Senate President Frank Drilon and Senator Juan Ponce Enrile abstained.
Santiago argued that “other than concurrence of the Senate, no authority expressly transforms a treaty into law,” and cited the Constitution’s treaty provision, which states: “No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the members of the Senate.’’
The Supreme Court was set to vote on a petition challenging the Edca on Tuesday, but since two justices—Associate Justices Jose Mendoza and Arturo Brion—were on sick leave, the court reset the voting to Nov. 16.
The two main petitions against Edca were filed in May last year by a group led by former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada and congressmen, led by Bayan Muna Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate.
Two other similar petitions were filed by Kilusang Mayo Uno and the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees and the family of slain transgender woman Jennifer Laude in June and November last year, respectively.
Oral arguments were heard last November and had been up for resolution since December last year.
Petitioners alleged that Edca violates provisions in the Constitution on national sovereignty, territorial integrity and interests, freedom from nuclear weapons and autonomy of local government units.
They also argued that Edca is a treaty – not merely an executive agreement as the Palace has claimed – which needs concurrence of the Senate before it can be implemented.
US Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg, said the Edca said the United Sta tes looked forward to carrying out the agreement once it cleared its legal hurdles.
“We, of course, are waiting for a very important Supreme Court decision as is the government here. We have a very good EDCA and we’re looking forward to implementing it when the time is right, when all of the decisions have been made on this side,” he added.
He added that the agreement would be among the topics that US President Barack Obama would discuss with President Benigno Aquino III in bilateral talks.
“I would imagine they will when the two presidents get together. Those are issues of mutual concern,” Goldberg told reporters.
The administration sees EDCA as an extension of the Visiting Forces Agreement and was conceived after China move aggressively to assert its ownership of disputed areas of the South China Sea by creating artificial islands that the Philippines says can be used for military purposes.
The new agreement boosts the US pivot to Asia policy that is seen as a counter to China’s growing aggressiveness to control the main economic sea route under its “nine-dash line” policy.
A former US senator has asked the Supreme Court to declare the Edca unconstitutional.
In his petition for intervention, Mike Gravel said the bilateral agreement violated the Treaty Clause of the Philippine Constitution and said it was “neither in the best interest of the Philippine people nor in the best interest of the American people.”
Gravel asked the Court to compel President Aquino to transmit the Edca, signed in April 2014, to the Philippine Senate for its concurrence, pursuant to the same treaty clause.
Gravel, who served as US senator from 1969 to 1981, filed his plea through the Roque & Butuyan Law Offices. With Rey E. Requejo and Florante S. Solmerin