Senate to review VFA

The Senate is set to conduct its own review of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States amid calls for President Duterte to reconsider his order to scrap the 20-yearold security pact.

The review will include a special briefing by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., chairman of the VFA Commission, said Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations.

Pimentel said the hearing would most likely be conducted jointly with the committee on national defense and security, chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson. He said he would also seek a conference with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who co-chairs the VFA Commission.

“What has been accomplished (by the VFA)? What were the benefits to us? What were the complaints received?” Pimentel told dzBB yesterday in Filipino.

“Though we have no formal role in the termination (of the VFA), we just want to have an accounting, what has happened (since the VFA came into force),” he said.

Locsin earlier called up Pimentel seeking to brief lawmakers on the VFA and related issues after Duterte last week ordered the termination of the agreement that allows temporary deployment of US troops in the country for joint activities following the cancellation of the US visa of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa.The foreign affairs chief has reportedly left for Washington and New York for undisclosed reasons.

Last week, Locsin said the process of terminating the agreement by the Philippines had already started.

Pimentel said with or without Duterte’s directive, the review of the VFA and similar pacts must be “constant” since they allow the entry of foreign troops in the Philippines, a sovereign nation.

Many senators agreed that while the VFA required the Senate’s nod, the President can unilaterally revoke the pact without having to seek permission from the chamber.