The Philippines will raise the issue of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines as well as the territorial disputes over the South China Sea when foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet online Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
Pandemic recovery is among the topics that Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. will bring up during the 54th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting that runs from Aug. 2 to 6, the DFA said.
ASEAN leaders who met in April committed to implement the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework for COVID-19.
Brunei, the current ASEAN chair, said it welcomed the decision to use the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund to procure vaccines for the people of the 10-nation bloc “as soon as possible.”
The ASEAN foreign ministers met as Filipino and American troops completed a three-week “Salaknib” exercise in Fort Ramon Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
Some 400 personnel joined the exercise composed of 15 training events including urban operations, intelligence, combat engineers, operations, medical planning, military police operations, K-9 operations, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense development.
"With the continuation of the Visiting Forces Agreement, both armies expect to continue with the exercise in the coming years," Philippine Army spokesman Col. Ramon Zagala said.
President Duterte dialed back his 2020 decision to terminate the VFA last week, after extending it three times.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the President's shifting stance on the VFA validated the position that foreign policy should be a shared power with the Senate.
“Foreign policy is not exclusive to the President. It is a shared power with the Senate. It cannot be left to the President alone since it involves policy issues, and Congress is the policy-making body in our system of government,” Drilon said.
Drilon said the latest decision of the President to recall the termination of the VFA, after much hemming and hawing, proves that foreign policy is a function that cannot be left alone to the President.
After unilaterally terminating the VFA on Feb. 11, 2020, the President recalled his decision several times in June 2020, in November 2020 and in June 2021 until he decided to retract the termination last Friday.
Drilon noted that “the President’s latest action comes on the heels of the Supreme Court landmark ruling involving the President’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, in which the justices affirmed the need for the Senate’s concurrence in the withdrawal from treaties and international agreements.”
In 2020, Senate President Vicente Sotto III along with Drilon, Senators Richard Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Ralph Recto and Miguel Zubiri asked the Supreme Court to render a decision declaring that the withdrawal from or termination of a treaty or international agreement requires the concurrence of the Senate.
Drilon said he sees the restoration of the VFA as part of renewed efforts to strengthen the bilateral relations and military alliancebetween the Philippines and United States, who have shared decades of deeper bilateral relationship and diplomatic ties that are anchored on trust, respect and understanding.
Entered into force in 1999, he said the VFA served as the basis for the resumption of the bilateral military exercises between the
Philippines and US and defined the treatment of United States troops and personnel visiting the Philippines.
He said the VFA also serves as the implementing agreement to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.
Through the VFA, the Philippines and the United States were able toshare information, surveillance and perform reconnaissance operations in the West Philippine Sea and Mindanao.
“The continuation of the VFA can help the country in so many areas most particularly with regard to the preservation of our rights over parts of the West Philippine Sea,” Drilon said.
Meanwhile, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel on Sunday called for the conduct of joint military amphibious landing maneuvers on Pag-asa Island, following the full restoration of the VFA.
“We would urge Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to propose the inclusion of joint amphibious landing drills on Pag-asa in the next Balikatan,” he said.
Pimentel is chairman of the House strategic intelligence committee.
“While we must avoid escalating tensions, we should also develop theabilities of our combined forces to operate side by side and rapidly respond to a full range of events, including conflict in our waters,” Pimentel said.
“In fact, we can also invite Australian forces to participate in the amphibious landing exercises. We also have a VFA with Australia,” he added.
He said he is counting on the revitalization of the VFA with America “to provide a psychological deterrence” to armed conflict with China over the West Philippine Sea.
“The VFA reinforces in a big way our Mutual Defense Treaty with America that is turning 70 years old this month,” Pimentel said.
On Friday, Locsin and US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John C. Law signed the Philippine-United States Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (AMSAR) Agreement on July 30.
The AMSAR Agreement provides delimitations on the search and rescue regions of the Philippines and the United States.
It seeks to foster stronger bilateral cooperation in the field of maritime and aeronautical search and rescue and enhances both countries’ effectiveness in assisting persons, vessels, aircraft, or other craft in distress.