Dada’s stooges

THIS is it! Malacanang is officially set to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement between our country and the US.

Late last week, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, whose job has been usurped by a senator during the threat of a virus contagion from China, faced reporters to say that the President has instructed his tokayo Executive Secretary Medialdea to tell top diplomat Teodoro Locsin to send the notice of termination to the US government.

A day after, however, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana contradicted Panelo’s pronouncement, going as far as calling it “fake news.”

“This is fake news. Sec. Locsin has not seen the order yet. According to Medialdea! None. Nada. Zilch. Awan. Wala! Anggapo,” reporters quoted Lorenzana as saying in a chat group.

Medialdea, for his part, confirmed that he has yet to receive the President’s instruction. Online news portal Rappler quoted the executive secretary as saying: “As of date [sic] I have not received any instruction to relay any message to anyone.”

On the same day, Panelo stuck to his guns saying that if Medialdea has not yet received the instruction “does not mean the info I shared to media is untrue.”

All this to and fro betray the real score behind the seriousness of this administration’s decision to abrogate the VFA. But I know where these people are coming from.

Locsin, who has this penchant for telling people on Twitter to just go and copulate with a duck, has explained last Thursday before the Senate committee on foreign relations that the country stands to lose a lot in foreign aid should the VFA be terminated.

He even requested the solons for an executive session to further discuss the matter. During the meeting, Locsin presented four direct benefits derived from the agreement.

One, he said, is that the agreement ensures operability of other Philippine-US defense arrangements of cooperation. The second benefit is the agreement allows the US to provide a “total-package approach” which meant that all items in the aid to the country would be compatible with systems and equipment already in place in our national defense.

Third and fourth are that the agreement promotes interoperability between the forces of the two countries, including its law enforcement agencies and the agreement allows for the continued support in facing the non-traditional security threats which include human trafficking, cyber attacks, and illegal drugs through training and exchange visits, respectively.

Make no mistake about it but the country stands to lose at least P10 billion in aid from the American should the agreement be abrogated. Locsin pointed this out during with the senators. A thing I cannot understand since wasn’t it Locsin the first stooge of this administration to jumped in and said that they will do barely hours after the President brandished the threat of the agreement’s termination as a response of the nullification of his stooge senator’s visa?

Lorenzana’s dilly-dallying over the abrogation of the agreement, however, is understandable. He stands to lose a lot in terms of American toys of war should the abrogation push through.

To this, I dare say: Don’t circumvent your commander-in-chief, general. Do what the President ordered. Remember, a senator’s US visa is at stake here. Do it, abrogate the agreement now. Pfft.

‘US troops out now’

MANY eyebrows, including mine, were raised late last week when President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US in retaliation to the latter’s cancellation of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s visa.

“I’m warning you, this is the first time: ’pag hindi ninyo ginawa ang correction diyan, I will terminate the basis of Visiting Forces Agreement. Tapusin ko’ng p**ang inang ’yan,” online news outfit Rappler quoted Duterte as saying last Thursday during a speech in Leyte, where he distributed aid to former rebels.

As a backgrounder, the VFA is a bilateral agreement between the US and the Philippines which consists of two separate documents — the VFA-1, and the VFA-2 also known as the “counterpart agreement.” The Philippine Senate ratified the agreement on May 27, 1999. The ratification of the Senate meant that the country regarded the agreement as a treaty. However, the US regards the documents as “executive agreements,” which meant that it did not require the concurrence of the US Senate.

With the enforcement of the agreement came the highly controversial Balikatan Exercises. These military exercises are designed to maintain and develop the mutual security of the two nations via crisis-action planning. These are done by conducting counter-terrorism operations and by promoting interoperability of the two countries’ forces.

These military exercises supposedly empower our country’s armed forces in rooting out the Abu Sayyaf Group and other terrorist cells operating in the country. However, after decades of these military exercises, our Armed Forces have yet to quell terrorist cells in the country.

I remember covering the very first Balikatan Exercises in Zamboanga City. I was working as a correspondent for Mindanews then. With another Mindanews correspondent Vanessa Almeda, we embedded with the convoy of some 20 plus buses of delegates from across the country who were against the agreement. We were pelted with rocks as soon as we entered the city.

Many protest actions sprung all throughout the existence of the agreement. There were rallies dubbed “US troops out now” in most of the major cities in the country. Those who opposed the agreement contend that it was disadvantageous to the country’s welfare. They claim the Philippines got the shorter end of the stick with the agreement.

Back to Duterte’s threat, this wasn’t the first time he threatened to abrogate the agreement. He did it five months into his presidency when the US didn’t renew an assistance package for the country. He felt the country is being short-changed.

The difference between the two threats is that the former was issued in anger over a diplomatic slight against his attack dog while the latter was issued with the country’s welfare in mind.

It is almost laughable, really. The wimped out Senate, as usual, relents the threat by saying last Friday that there is no need for the Senate’s concurrence in abrogating the agreement. In fact, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said they are already in the process of terminating the agreement after solons said a Senate action is not needed to scrap the agreement.

Believe it or not, I understand where Duterte is coming from. As petty as it sounds — VFA abrogation unless the reversal of Bato’s visa cancellation — the President has a basis for his threat.

Under the agreement, Philippine personnel is supposed to be exempt from visa formalities and further guarantees expedited entry and exit to the US.

I said I understand. I did not say I agree. I just hope that the President could sort out his priorities. The year of the metal rat greeted us with a volcano eruption, earthquakes, and an impending viral pandemic. I think it doesn’t need a genius to categorize which should be addressed first.

Don’t get me wrong. I say, go ahead and abrogate the agreement. But do so with the welfare of the country in mind and not because of some macho retaliation of a diplomatic slight against his minion. Pfft.