Crossing party lines, 12 senators have adopted a resolution challenging President Rodrigo Duterte’s unilateral abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States before the Supreme Court.
“I filed the resolution asking the Supreme Court to interpret for us, to finally interpret the Constitution on the issue of abrogation…We want clarity and I hope that once and for all the honorable SC could shed light on this purely question of law,” said Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
With the vote, the resolution will now be included in the petition to be filed by former and incumbent senators “most probably [today (Tuesday)],” Sotto said, on whether or not Senate concurrence is required to terminate treaties.
Senate Resolution No. 337 said the issue on Senate concurrence “presents a constitutional issue that seriously affects the country’s legal system as well as the country’s relations with the international community.”
“Considering the urgency of the determination of the purely legal question of whether or not the concurrence of the Senate is necessary in the abrogation of a treaty previously concurred in by the Senate, now is the opportune time for this august body to obtain from the Supreme Court its declaration on this legal question,” read the resolution.
Aside from Sotto, senators who voted to adopt the resolution include Panfilo Lacson, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Franklin Drilon, Richard Gordon, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Joel Villanueva, Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Ralph Recto and Lito Lapid.
Senators Manny Pacquiao and Pia Cayetano came in late and their votes were not counted. Pacquiao, however, put it on record that he supports the resolution.
Those who abstained were senators Cynthia Villar, Aquilino Pimentel III, Imee Marcos, Christopher Go, Ramon Revilla Jr., Francis Tolentino, and Ronald dela Rosa.
Dela Rosa, who earlier vowed to “sink and swim” with the Duterte, appeared bewildered that those opposed to the resolution could not get a majority vote, considering that the majority of the senators are allies of the President.
Zubiri, for his part, expressed hope that their vote will not result in hurt feelings with Malacañang.
“This is a conscience vote. I hope we will not have ill feelings toward each other, because, for us, this is for the Senate as an institution,” he said.
“My vote is not against the President but to protect our institution on future questions that may arise,” Zubiri added.
Lacson echoed the same sentiment in response to Bato’s lamentation: “I just would like to disabuse the mind of my former comrade-in-arms in the Philippine National Police. I voted not against the President. I voted for the institution where I belong called the Senate of the Philippines.”
Meanwhile, despite his resolve to abrogate the military pact with the United States, Duterte will not order the Philippine ambassador to Washington refrain from talking to US officials who are eyeing another accord to replace the VFA, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
Panelo said Duterte would not stop Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez from “entertaining initiatives” from the American government to replace the VFA after the envoy revealed that he and US Ambassador Sung Kim were studying options for a new deal.
“You cannot stop the ambassador from entertaining talks or initiatives coming from his counterpart. That’s diplomacy,” Panelo told reporters.
Panelo said Duterte was not seeking a new military agreement with any country as the Philippines should be a self-reliant state capable of crushing its enemies.
READ: Carpio: More Chinese aggression in WPS sans VFA
READ: Ex-UN envoy backs termination of VFA
