Palace: Jurisdiction aspect of VFA now under review

Malacañang is now reviewing the ‘jurisdiction’ aspect of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Monday. At a press briefing in Malacañang, Lacierda said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., who heads the Presidential Commission on the VFA, is taking the lead in the review. He did not provide other details. "I understand that the VFA is under review," Lacierda said when asked on Malacañang’s position on the joint resolution filed by House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III calling for the termination of the VFA. He said it was the first time that he heard about the position of Tañada, a member of the Liberal Party. President Benigno Aquino III is LP chairman. "I remember the statement of Secretary Ochoa that there is a question on jurisdiction so that is being studied right now," Lacierda said. Over the weekend, Tañada filed a joint congressional resolution seeking the termination of the VFA entered into by the Philippines with the United States of America in 1998. The Philippine Senate ratified the agreement in May 1999. It is not a mutual security agreement but is a support deal to the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). "This will send a stronger message that we have had enough of this downright unconstitutional treaty," Tañada said. "Recalling all the various incidents of human rights violations and criminal acts allegedly or proven to be committed by US troops in Philippine soil, I strongly believe that it is an imperative that we reclaim the sovereignty we are slowly losing to foreign forces," he added. At the Senate, two senators have expressed support for the resolution filed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago in August last year calling for the termination of the VFA. These are Senators Joker Arroyo and Teofisto Guingona III. [See: 2 more senators push for termination of VFA] Executive Order No. 9 Last October 1, President Aquino issued Executive Order No. 9 which reorganizes the commission and names the executive secretary as chairman and the secretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of National Defense as vice chairmen of the commission. Other members of the commission are the secretaries of the Department of Justice and Department of Social Welfare and Development, the executive president of the commission, and a private sector representative to be appointed by the president. Ochoa had said the commission will likely look into the controversial custody aspect of the VFA. Constitutionality The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the VFA after it was questioned by a group that included former Senate President Jovito Salonga and Evalyn Ursua, the former lawyer of Suzette Nicolas who claimed that she was raped by an American soldier, US Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, in Subic five years ago. Smith, a participant in the 2005 Balikatan exercises under the auspices of the VFA, was convicted by the Makati Regional Trial Court of raping Nicolas inside the Subic Bay Freeport on Nov. 1, 2005. In a sworn statement submitted to the Court of Appeals in March 12, 2009, however, Nicolas— whose identity was still being hidden under the name "Nicole" at the time — recanted her earlier statements accusing Smith of rape and admitted that she had doubts whether the US serviceman indeed raped her. — Amita Legaspi/RSJ/KBK, GMA News