JUNK VFA, EDCA. Activists led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Southern Mindanao Region and the League of Filipino Students hold a protest action in San Pedro street, Davao City to urge President Rodrigo Duterte to pursue his plan of an independent foreign policy in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Philippine Senate’s rejection of the new treaty for the Subic Bay Naval Station and end to US military presence Friday,September 16. The groups called on Pres. Duterte to scrap the Visiting Forces Administration and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY – Activists here commemorated the 25th year since 12 Senators voted to reject the RP-US Bases treaty of 1991 by protesting alleged human rights violations committed by United States military and called for the termination of the agreements that allow the presence of American soldiers in Philippine territory.
“We have all been witness to the long list of violations that have not even been tackled here in our country,” said Sheena Duazo, regional secretary general of Bayan. Duazo cited the cases of Michael Meiring, who accidently exploded a bomb inside the Evergreen Hotel but was whisked off by suspected FBI agents from the hospital where he was being treated and the case of Nicole, “a Davaoeña who was raped by a US soldier in Subic.”
“Remember Jennifer Laude, who was murdered by US Marine Scott Pemberton in Olongapo and Gregan Cardeño, a Filipino Bahasa interpreter who died inside a US base in Marawi City,” Duazo added.
On September 16, 1991, 12 senators voted to reject the RP-US Bases Treaty of 1991. The 12 were former Senators Agapito “Butz” Aquino, Joseph Estrada, Teofisto Guingona Jr, Sotero Laurel II, Ernesto Maceda Jr, Orlando Mercado, Aquilino Pimentel Jr, Rene Saguisag, Jovito Salonga, Wigberto Tañada, Victor Ziga, and Juan Ponce Enrile.
The group also expressed hopes that Duterte’s pronouncements of an “independent foreign policy” would lead to the eventual scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, calling the agreements an “unequal relationship” and inimical to national sovereignty.
“In spite of the senate decision that spurned the presence of US bases 25 years ago, we now have these executive agreements signed by previous administrations that have given the US military the legal means to stay encamped in the Philippines, such as the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement,” Duazo said.
The VFA restored the presence of American soldiers in Philippine soil through Senate ratification on May 27, 1999, and the EDCA is an executive agreement signed by former president Benigno Aquino III on July 26, 2016 thereby not needing the ratification of the senate.
“It is totally outrageous to let foreign military troops, who are almost invulnerable to Philippine laws and commanded by it’s own country’s interests, to set foot and perform operations in our nation. And to think we are seeing this complete trampling of our national sovereignty ever since we proclaimed independence,” League of Filipino Students spokesperson Abdul Rauf Sissay said.
The group also expressed hopes that Duterte’s pronouncements of an independent foreign policy would lead to the eventual scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, calling the agreements an “unequal relationship” and inimical to national sovereignty.
“We now have these agreements signed by the previous administrations that have given the US military the legal means to stay in the Philippines,” Duazo said.
The VFA restored the presence of American soldiers in Philippine soil through Senate ratification on May 27, 1999, and the EDCA is an executive agreement signed by former president Benigno Aquino III on July 26, 2016.
“It is totally outrageous to let foreign military troops, who are almost invulnerable to Philippine laws and commanded by it’s own country’s interests, to set foot and perform operations in our nation. And to think we are seeing this complete trampling of our national sovereignty ever since we proclaimed independence,” League of Filipino Students spokesperson Abdul Rauf Sissay said.
