DAVAO CITY – Teachers trooped to the Supreme Court on Tuesday to file a petition questioning the constitutionality of the joint military exercises with Japan.
One of the petitioners, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio said President Benigno Aquino III and the Philippine military “entered into agreements with Japan allowing the presence in Philippine territory of Japanese military troops in joint military exercises, and actually carried out joint military exercises in May and June 2015.”
“This, despite the prohibition in Section 25, Article XVIII and the principles of sovereignty and independent foreign policy of the 1987 Constitution,” he said.
“We strongly condemn the Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea, and believe that our territory must be defended,” Tinio said.
Tinio said that there is a need to forge alliances with other countries “without sacrificing our sovereignty and within the bounds of the Constitution and existing laws.”
“Pursuing an alliance is one thing, but transforming the Philippines into a base of operations for Japanese military forces would be a humiliating act of subservience,” he said.
“For a country formerly occupied by Japan to host Japanese military forces on its territory would be unprecedented in post-World War II history, and President Aquino will earn the ignominy of making it happen,” Tinio said.(davaotoday.com)
