DFA to resubmit 10 agreements to 20th Congress

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will be resubmitting ten priorities and international agreements to the 20th Congress for ratification.

During the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday, DFA shared that there were 10 agreements ratified by the President and submitted to the Senate but had reached the end of session for the 19th Congress.

Foreign Relations Committee chair Senator Imee Marcos had requested for a resubmission of all pending agreements to be able to process it once more.

“Pag na-endorse na sa Senado, at si Senate President i-refer na sa plenary saken, mabilis lang yan kasi pinagusapan na karamihan diyan eh,” she noted.

(Once this has been endorsed to the Senate and the Senate President has referred me to the plenary, it will be fast because we’ve already discussed most of these.)

The 10 agreements are as follows:

•  Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement)
• PH-US LOA on Narcotics Control
• Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (1997 Protocol)
• Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste (JC)
• Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC)
• Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS)
• PH-Cambodia Double Taxation Agreement
• Protocol to Amend the Convention on Offenses and Certain Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (Montreal Protocol 2014)
• UN Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (Liability Convention)
• PH-UK Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons

“Unfinished business terminates with the end of session. As a result, just resubmit all the 10 as I said,” Marcos said.

“Kaya po natin yan. Unang-una, yung 1 and 2 klarong-klaro yan kasi napagusapan na yan. Pagkatapos, may mga double taxation agreement, kadami-dami natin niyan. Pati yung mga transfer of sentenced persons na dito na magsisilbi ng sentensya, marami na din tayong ganyan. Kaya yung iba diyan, mabilisan nalang yan kasi nakakahon na,” she added.

((We can do it. First of all, 1 and 2 are already clear, as we’ve already discussed this. After that, there are double taxation agreements; we already have a lot of those. Even the transfer of sentenced persons to serve their time here—we already have a lot of those. That’s why some of those will be fast because it’s already boxed up.) —VAL, GMA Integrated News