Solons welcome planned review of PHL-US Mutual Defense Treaty

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Tuesday welcomed the planned visit of a top-level team from the United States to the Philippines to discuss amendments to the Mutual Defense Treaty.

In a statement, Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano said the visit and the review of the Mutual Defense Treaty would allow the Philippines to clarify the "vague, non-committal" provisions of the said agreement.

"I believe this is a prompt response by the Philippines and the US since there is a clamor to review it. There is a need for clarification of commitments between us and the United States," Alejano said.

"It is beneficial for the Philippines especially now that it seems like the country is left at the mercy of the expansionist China," he added.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has said he wanted the treaty amended to make it more relevant to the dispute in the South China Sea, which involves the Philippines, China and several other claimant-countries.

“They have been asking me our plans and their high-level delegation will be arriving here soon. It's not yet the formal talks but just maybe an audience to explore what other things that we are thinking on our side,” Lorenzana said.

“We also want to know what they are thinking on their side because the agreement is actually very short, it’s a very short document. We just want to remove the ambiguities because they [US officials] always we will involve ourselves in territorial disputes,” he added.

Akbayan party-list Representative Tom Villarin also welcomed the planned review of the Mutual Defense Treaty, saying that it is already long overdue.

"It is a historic opportunity to define what mutual interests serve both countries in an era where global power shifts to the Asia Pacific. Our sovereignty and independence trumps other interests, nothing less," he said.

Villarin, however, expressed concern on the possible consequences of the review of the treaty to the country's foreign policy.

"The Duterte administration wants to serve two masters at the same time. It wants to leverage its China pivot to gain concessions from the US. But it can't have its cake and eat it too," he said.

"It will ultimately put our country in the crosshairs of a power struggle over control of the South China Sea where global maritime trade is highest," he added.

Signed in 1951, the Mutual Defense Treaty provides that the Philippines and United States agreed to conduct joint military exercises. — BM, GMA News