President Rodrigo Duterte has recalled his decision to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States (US), Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced on July 30. The president, he said, decided to retract the termination letter for the VFA and the agreement would now proceed as if it did not face abrogation.
The decision to cancel VFA has been suspended twice before it was now totally recalled.
The Philippines, through Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. and upon Duterte’s order, served the US an official notice of termination on February 11, 2020. The agreement would have been terminated 180 days after serving the notice, supposedly on August 9 last year, but Balikatan exercises were to continue as planned that year.
The decision to cancel VFA came on January 23 last year, a day after Duterte’s friend and close ally Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa lamented the cancellation of his US visa, said to be in connection with his role in Duterte’s bloody war on drugs. Dela Rosa was one of the authors and the first Philippine National Police chief to implement Oplan Tokhang.
Duterte, in his rage, said then that he has had enough of US meddling. He also said he cannot be compelled to change his decision to terminate the VFA, even after some senators questioned before the Supreme Court the matter of requiring Duterte to seek concurrence from Congress in this decision.
On June 1 last year, however, Locsin issued a diplomatic note to the US Ambassador saying the abrogation of the VFA has been suspended upon the Duterte’s instruction.
In June this year, the Philippine government announced its decision to suspended VFA abrogation again, just a few days after the 123rd Philippine Independence Day. Then, the VFA was supposed to remain suspended up to February 2022.
The VFA was said to be needed to operationalize and implement the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty. The VFA provides the legal framework for US troops, transport and equipment can enter and operate in the Philippines.
The US Embassy said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III visited the Philippines for the first time on July 20 and 30. Along with US Embassy Charge d’ Affaires John Law, Austin met with Duterte, Lorenzana and Locsin and it was then that Lorenzana told the US officials that the decision to cancel the VFA has been recalled. Duterte’s change of heart on the VFA was said to have come during this visit.
The VFA, in its 22 years, has been met with protests and criticisms over issues on encroaching on the country’s sovereignty as well as two highly-publicized criminal cases involving visiting US soldiers, the Subic rape case in 2005 and the killing of trans woman Jennifer Laude in 2014. Duterte pardoned Laude’s killer, the convicted US soldier US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton on September 7 last year while the VFA was supposedly in limbo and despite the US soldier not applying for it.
US military aid to the Philippines
Despite tense ties with the US since Duterte rose to the presidency, the Philippines is the largest recipient of US military aid in the Indo-Pacific region according to the US Embassy in the Philippines.
Since 2015, the US has delivered more than P37 billion ($765 million) worth of planes, ships, armored vehicles, small arms, and other military equipment to the Philippines.
Early this year, Duterte spoke about asking the US “to pay more” and “to quadruple its military aid.” The Philippine government was said to be demanding $16 billion in aid in February to resume the VFA.
In September last year, the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) was introduced in the US Congress seeking to restrict US military aid to Duterte unless certain conditions were met, such as investigations on state forces found to have violated human rights and establishing protections for marginalized sectors and critics of the government among others.
In June this year, BAYAN USA condemned the US $2.5 billion arms sale to the Philippines under US President Joe Biden. The group said the US sale and military aid to the Philippines bankroll the illegal imprisonment and killings of farmers and ordinary citizens, such as the Lianga 2 massacre where 3 young Lumad-Monobo farmers (one was a minor) were killed on June 15 by state forces who alleged it was a shootout with the New People’s Army.
