Lorenzana on Duterte's threat vs. VFA: The ball is now in the hands of the Americans

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Friday said he understands why President Rodrigo Duterte was irked by the cancellation of Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s US visa, prompting him to threaten to cancel the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

In a statement to reporters, Lorenzana said "the ball is now in the hands of the Americans" to respond to Duterte's statement.

“Let’s see how they react to PRRD’s statement,” he said.

Lorenzana pointed out that the cancellation of Dela Rosa's visa was in connection with the alleged extrajudicial killings blamed on Duterte administration's war against illegal drugs.

“It is a direct affront to PRRD being the architect of the drug war that he started upon his assumption of office,” Lorenzana said.

“He ordered Bato, then the newly-installed chief PNP, to launch the drug war and enjoined the entire PNP to do their duties and pledged to would back them up,” he added.

Lorenzana cited that Duterte even promised to take responsibility for the official actions of his policemen, adding that Duterte would even go to prison for them.

“He is just being true to his promise,” the Defense chief said.

Lorenzana’s remark came after Duterte threatened to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States if the latter will not restore the senator’s visa.

According to Dela Rosa, there was no exact reason given why his visa was cancelled, but admitted to hearing reports about its link to extrajudicial killings blamed on the government's drug war that he spearheaded when he was PNP chief. —KBK, GMA News