President Rodrigo Duterte will also terminate the country’s military pacts with Australia and Japan if there are “compelling” reasons to do so, Malacañang said Sunday, as it shrugged off efforts to craft a new accord with the United States to replace the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that was terminated three weeks ago.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said that while the defense agreements with Australia and Japan remain in force as of now, President Duterte is also keen on scrapping those pacts if the two countries interfere with the sovereignty of the Philippines.
“Our pending agreements with Australia and Japan will not be scrapped by the President unless there is a compelling reason for him to do so,” Panelo said in a radio interview.
READ: Most senators nix VFA termination
He also maintained that President Duterte remains firm in his decision to abrogate the country’s VFA with the United States amid reports that the envoys of Manila and Washington are working for another military deal to replace it.
Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez on Friday said his counterpart, US Ambassador Sung Kim, was in Washington exploring the possibility of a new agreement with Manila.
Romualdez said the country’s military deals with Australia and Japan were among the agreements “recommended for study” as a model for a new accord. The proposal would be presented to President Duterte, he added.
In 2007, the country entered into a visiting forces deal with Australia that took effect in 2012. The Philippines also has a military pact with Japan signed in 2016, which provides a framework for joint research and development projects between the two countries, as well as Tokyo’s supply of defense equipment to Manila.
Panelo said the initiative to work out a new deal does not have the go-signal of President Duterte, insisting that the commander-in-chief wants the Philippines to become a self-reliant state capable of crushing its own enemies.
READ: Ex-UN envoy backs termination of VFA
“It does not have the go-signal of the President. Maybe that’s the initiative of Ambassador Romualdez’s counterpart. Of course, they are affected. So they will initiate a good suggestion,” Panelo said.
Romualdez added that contrary to US President Donald Trump’s earlier remark that he does not mind the termination of the VFA, Pentagon officials are “extremely concerned” about the implications of scrapping the deal amid Beijing’s rise in the West Philippine Sea.
The VFA, which took effect in 1999, grants American troops the privilege to be exempted from passport and visa regulations, and use their permits and licenses in the Philippines. It also gives the United States jurisdiction over American servicemen who commit crimes while based in the Philippines.
READ: Carpio: More Chinese aggression in WPS sans VFA
It was the foundation of military exercises between the two countries such as the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
The MDT states that Manila and Washington would come to each other’s defense in case of an attack by a foreign state, while the EDCA allows the US military to maintain barracks and weapons storage structures inside five Philippine military camps.
Panelo said scrapping the VFA also weakens MDT and EDCA.
On Wednesday, President Duterte said the military and police assured him that the Philippines could boost its defense capabilities without US assistance.
He added that the Philippines should choose to become a “territory” of the United States or a “province” of China if it is incapable of defending itself from terrorism and extremist groups.
On Feb. 11, the Philippines sent Washington a notice to terminate the VFA after the US canceled the visa of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, presumably because of his role when he was still national police chief in the President’s bloody war on drugs.
