President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the start of the process of terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo told reporters on Friday the Philippines would no longer wait for the US to respond to the President’s warning, giving Washington a month to rescind the cancellation of the visa of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.





“Apparently hindi na nasunod kasi tinanong ko siya kagabi (it was not followed because I asked him last night), when will the process start? [he said], ‘Tonight,’” Panelo said.

He added that he had relayed the President’s directive to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

Panelo said Locsin, who will leave for the US soon, had convened a committee to start the process of terminating the VFA.

Also on Friday, Locsin tweeted that he and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana were involved in the process “by first contacting the Senate because it is a treaty on our side [and] an executive agreement on the US side.”

Locsin heads the Presidential Commission on Visiting Forces, and Lorenzana is the vice chairman.

Following the rift between the Duterte administration and American senators, the President on Thursday warned he would terminate the VFA unless Washington “corrects” the cancellation of dela Rosa’s visa in one month.

“I’m warning you. This is the first time. If you do not make any correction, I will terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement,” Duterte said in his speech during his visit to Leyte.

Panelo said the President was fed up with the repeated US intrusions into Philippine affairs, the latest of which involved the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima.

“They cannot dictate [to] us or bully us into releasing a citizen of this country who is lawfully detained. When they introduced that amendment, [that is] tantamount, to our mind, as a disrespect,” Panelo said.

US Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy had introduced an amendment to the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Section of the US budget program preventing Philippine officials involved in de Lima’s detention from entering the US.

Panelo described the present diplomatic relationship between the Philippines and the US as “not as warm as before.”

“It’s lukewarm,” he said.

US Ambassador Sung Kim, according to Panelo, had sought a meeting with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea either on Friday or Saturday to discuss the development.

The VFA is a pact signed by Manila and Washington in 1999, which allows US troops to train and advise the Philippine military in its fight against terrorists, but bans US forces from getting involved in combat operations.

Panelo stressed that it was still unclear whether Duterte could unilaterally terminate the VFA without the concurrence of Congress.

“There are two theories, and it is not been settled yet. Under the constitution, the ratification of a treaty requires the concurrence of the Senate. That is why this VFA, considered to be a treaty, has the votes of the Senate. But the US considers this as an executive agreement. So the theory is if it is an executive agreement, you can terminate it,” he said.

In the second theory the Senate’s approval is required needed to terminate the agreement, the spokesman added.

This is not the first time President Duterte threatened to terminate the VFA. He made the same threat in December 2016, when the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corp. deferred a vote on continuing aid to the Philippines amid concerns of unabated human rights violations.

A high-ranking Defense official warned that terminating the VFA of Manila and Washington would alarm the Philippines’ neighbors, since the US is considered as a “stabilizing force” in the region.

The source, who requested anonymity and is familiar with treaties with the US, said Duterte should have made a calibrated response instead of summarily threatening to scrap the agreement.

“President Duterte should have calibrated first. First step is to say that he will not go to the US on invitation of President [Donald] Trump for the Asean-US meeting unless [Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa] is part of his entourage,” the official said.

Asean is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The source said doing away with the VFA would raise concerns among Manila’s neighbors.

“Our neighbors will be alarmed as they consider the US as a stabilizing force in the region,” the official said. “China would love it.”

Secretary Lorenzana said the public should wait for Washington’s response to the threat of Duterte.

“The ball is in the US hand. Let’s see how they react to PRRD’s statement,” Lorenzana told reporters in a message thread on Friday, using the initials of Duterte.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday confirmed receiving instructions from Malacañang, saying the Department of Justice (DoJ) was studying the proper and legal procedures on how to terminate the bilateral agreement.

“All I can say is that the DoJ has been tasked to study the proper procedure to terminate the VFA. We are doing it now,” Guevarra said in a message when asked to comment on the President’s threat to scrap the agreement.

The VFA is one of two bilateral agreements between the Philippines and the US. The other is the Republic of the Philippines-US Mutual Defense Treatry (MDT).

The VFA was ratified by the Philippine Senate on May 27, 1999, while the MDT was signed on Aug. 30, 1951 in Washington by representatives of the two countries.

The VFA paved the way for the continued presence of American forces in the country, through various yearly bilateral military exercises, following the abrogation by the Philippine Senate of the RP-US Bases Agreement on Sept. 16, 1991.

Under the VFA, the US retains jurisdiction over American military personnel accused of committing crimes in the Philippines.

Two cases that stood out are the rape charge against Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith and the murder charge against US serviceman Pvt. 1st Class Joseph Scott Pemberton in the death of Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude.

Prior to Duterte’s threat to terminate the VFA, US President Donald Trump has signed into law the US 2020 budget that included a provision banning the jailers of Senator de Lima from setting foot on American soil.

De Lima identified her jailers as Duterte, Panelo, online bloggers Esther Margaux “Mocha” Uson, Sass Rogando Sasot and RJ Nieto, former House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre 2nd, Solicitor General Jose Calida, Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta, Sandra Cam, Dante Jimenez, and Congressmen Rey Umali and Rudy Fariñas.

Sen. Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos said President Duterte should terminate the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) instead of the VFA.

Marcos issued the remark in reaction to the directive of the President to terminate the VFA.

She noted that the VFA allows Philippine laws to apply to American soldiers when they are in the Philippines.

“Not like before that when American troops come to the Philippines, only American law will apply in accordance with international law,” she said.

“It was VFA that allowed us to arrest Daniel Smith, the rapist American soldier. EDCA allows US troops and equipment to be stationed in designated Philippine bases for a longer time skirting the constitutional ban on foreign bases in the Philippines,” Marcos added.

The EDCA allows the US to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays and allows the US to build and operate facilities on Philippine bases, for both American and Philippine forces.

The US is not allowed to establish any permanent military bases. It also gives Philippine personnel access to American ships and planes.

The EDCA is a supplemental agreement to the previous VFA.

The agreement was signed by Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg in Manila on April 28, 2014.

On Jan. 12, 2016, the Philippine Supreme Court upheld the agreement’s constitutionality in a 10-4 vote.

On July 26, 2016, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled with finality that the agreement is constitutional.

The Makabayan bloc in the House urged Duterte to terminate military agreements with the US to assert sovereignty instead of “avenging” Senator dela Rosa.

House Deputy Minority leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate backed the termination of the VFA, MDT and the EDCA for the “right reasons.”

“He should just do it for the right reasons, but not out of pique or just to use it as a leverage tool or bargaining chip for personal gains or out of spite. These agreements effectively transformed the Philippines as the biggest US base in the world and should have long been terminated,” Zarate said.

“The Philippine Congress is just a letter away for him to certify as urgent the termination of the onerous military agreements with the US,” the Kabataan party-list said in a statement.

The Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) called Duterte’s threat a “childish bluff that lays insult to women and children victimized by the continued presence of US troops on our soil.”

“A senator’s pass for a US trip is certainly a cheap bargain for treaty that justifies the free pass of American soldiers to launch war games here and exploit our women and children,” the GWP said in a statement.

WITH REPORTS FROM WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL, JAVIER JOE ISMAEL AND DIVINA NOVA JOY DELA CRUZ