Senate: Clarify PH-US deal’s coverage, contents

Ayee Macaraig

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Senate: Clarify PH-US deal’s coverage, contents
'There appears to be an imperative need to review the EDCA in order to clarify its coverage and contents to promote transparency,' Trillanes says

MANILA, Philippines – After much debate, the Senate finally decided to call for a hearing to look into the Philippines’ military agreement with the United States.

Senate defense committee chairman Antonio Trillanes IV filed a resolution calling for a legislative inquiry into the deal, citing “a clamor from the public” and his fellow legislators.

A supporter of the agreement that gives US troops greater access to Philippine bases, Trillanes reversed his initial position not to call for a hearing.

“There appears to be an imperative need to review the EDCA in order to clarify its coverage and contents as well as the extent of the strategic military relationship between the US and [the Philippines] under the said agreement in order to promote transparency,” Trillanes said in Senate Resolution No. 623.

Trillanes’ resolution directs his committee to look into the deal formally known as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA. The agreement allows US troops to construct facilities and store equipment in local bases, free of charge. It is a 10-year deal that “shall continue” unless terminated by either country. (Read the agreement here and the primer here.) 

In a press briefing last week, Trillanes said he has no plans to call an investigation because he is satisfied with his discussions with the Philippine negotiating panel. A former navy officer, he called it a “security blanket” that will boost the capacity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), one of the weakest militaries in Asia. 

Senate President Franklin Drilon also said he will leave it up to the Senate committees to call for a hearing, and did not initiate a caucus among senators, contrary to the pronouncements of Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

Yet even before the signing of the deal, former senators, militant lawmakers and concerned individuals criticized the lack of transparency in its crafting. They pointed out that the public and the Senate, the body constitutionally mandated to approve treaties, were “kept in the dark.”

Senate foreign relations committee chairperson Miriam Defensor Santiago called the signing of the agreement on April 28 “an unfair surprise on the Senate.”

Santiago’s staff said the senator has not yet declared any plan to call for a hearing on the deal.

‘Mutually beneficial deal’

Trillanes indicated in his resolution why he is supportive of the deal.

He cited the Philippines’ 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the US, and the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which the executive branch said the deal is merely implementing.

“In apparent recognition of the above-cited constitutional mandate and as a mode of addressing new security threats and boosting the AFP’s capability in securing the country’s sovereignty, the Executive has opted to continue working with our treaty ally in a mutually beneficial way, through bilateral agreements which seek to strengthen our military alliances,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes said that defense and security challenges “have become more complex.”

“Both countries have realized the necessity of having new agreements that would further enhance their ability to face these complicated challenges jointly,” he said.

While he made no mention of the Philippines’ territorial row with China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), analysts saw the signing of the deal as Manila’s effort to seek the assistance of its longtime treaty ally in building up its defense capability in response to an increasingly aggressive Beijing.

Trillanes echoes Malacañang’s position that the deal will benefit the AFP and is legally sound. 

Critics though raised questions of constitutionality and sovereignty, and expressed concern that the deal reversed a historic 1991 vote of the Philippine Senate to close down US bases. – Rappler.com

 

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