Miriam formally seeks termination of VFA anew

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Monday filed a joint resolution seeking the termination of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)—her second attempt since 2010.   In Senate Joint Resolution 019, Santiago accused the US of non-compliance and violation of Philippine law and international norms and customs on the protection and preservation of the environment.   Santiago filed the resolution at the heels of the controversy involving a US Navy contractor that allegedly dumped hazardous wastes in Subic Bay. A number of senators have called for an investigation on the allegation.   Santiago’s resolution also seeks to direct the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs to give notice of termination to the United States.   "If adopted, the joint resolution, although victimized by the President's veto power, will become a historic compulsive force that can still gather together the broken pieces of national sovereignty shattered by the infirmity of the political leadership," Santiago said in the measure.   The VFA was signed in February 1998 and was ratified by the Philippine Senate in May 1999. It is not a mutual security agreement but a support deal to the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).   In August 2010, Santiago also filed a joint resolution calling for the termination of the VFA.  It was never passed and remained pending in the committee.   In her first resolution, Santiago said the US does not recognize the VFA as a treaty because its Congress never ratified the agreement, which the Philippine Senate did in 1999.   Two senators—Joker Arroyo and Teofisto Guingona III—supported her call because the country had supposedly not benefited from the agreement. — Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News