Lorenzana: Improved VFA will be signed under Duterte admin

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday said he is confident that President Rodrigo Duterte will sign the additional document in implementing  the Visiting Forces Agreement  (VFA) with the US.

At the Pre-SONA presser, Lorenzana said a document has been included for the implementation of the provisions of the agreement under a floating status since February 2020.

“Ako naman ay nagtitiwala, I am confident na this will be signed under President Duterte (I believe, I am confident that this will be signed under President Rodrigo Duterte),” he said.

Duterte ordered the abrogation of the VFA after the US, a long-time Philippine defense and treaty ally, revoked the visa of his close aide and former police chief now senator Ronald Dela Rosa.  

US officials did not cite a specific reason why Dela Rosa's visa was cancelled, but many speculated it was due to his involvement in Duterte's violent war on drugs.

Manila sent an official letter of termination of the VFA to the US on Feb. 11, 2020.

In November 2020, Duterte suspended the abrogation of the agreement amid lingering tensions with China in the disputed South China Sea.

On June 14 this year, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Duterte extended for another six months the suspension VFA's abrogation. —LBG, GMA News