A Malacañang official said on Wednesday the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which President Rodrigo Duterte has placed under review, is “valid.”
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said documents show that former President Benigno Aquino III authorized former defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin to sign the agreement on behalf of the Philippines.
“Initially the impression was it was never signed and the former secretary of Defense was not authorized. But the documents show that Gazmin was authorized by President Aquino. There was a memorandum of ratification of the document, so it is a valid agreement,” Panelo told Wednesday’s forum “Kapihan sa Manila Bay, at Café Adriatico, Manila.”
“Duterte, according to the agreement, need not continue implementing the Edca. There is a provision there which says so. The agreement also says that either party can terminate the agreement. Either the President does not implement the agreement or he terminates it. The government is bound by it, but the agreement also says it can terminate it. And it can also not implement it if it wants,” he said.
Panelo said the underlying reason for any agreement is whether it helps the country’s interest or not. If it can be seen that it no longer adds or supplements Philippine interests, the President is bound by the Constitution to not implement it or to abrogate it, he said.
He also said the President is subjecting the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty to a review “either to expand them, enhance them, or remove provisions onerous to the interests of the government.”
When asked if they will be renegotiated, Panelo said “yes, if the President so desires.”
“Any agreement for that matter has its options. There is always a clause there that says you can either revise it, terminate it, or expand it. My only concern on Monday was to see whether the documents were signed by authority of the President. And they were. I have given him my legal opinion and so it is now in his hands,” the Palace counsel said.
“Maybe Duterte will decide on it soon,” said Panelo.