Joker questions constitutionality of EDCA

MANILA, Philippines - Former Sen. Joker Arroyo questioned on Tuesday the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense  Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that the Philippines and the United States signed on Monday hours before US President Barrack Obama visited the country.

“What did the Philippines get out of the Obama visit? Zero. Analyze it,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo also criticized Malacanang for leaving the Philippine Senate in the blind over the new agreement.

“We rushed to sign the EDCA as a gift to President Obama, signed by our Defense Secretary and the US Ambassador that would allow more American troops in the Philippines,” he said.

“No one, but no one was consulted about its constitutionality or participated in its preparation. It was exclusively Malacañang directed,” said Arroyo, who was among the senators who voted for the close down of the US bases in Olongapo, Zambales in 1992.

Rather than the rhetorics, Arroyo said he was expecting that the US government to warn China that it will back the Philippines should Chinese troops harass local fishermen and troops stationed at the disputed West Philippine Sea.

“What did we get in exchange? Heaping shibboleths on America’s 'longest ally,' President Obama also  praised the culinary skills of the White House Filipino Executive Chef.”

“It was hoped that he would say, at least, that in case Filipino fishermen and Navy supplies go to the disputed islands and the China Maritime Fleet fires at or harasses them, America will strongly caution China so that we don’t get embroiled in a shooting war,” he added.

Arroyo also called on the Defense Department and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to look into the 1914 War Plan Orange No. III prepared by the US War Department.

The 1914 War Plan, according to Arroyo, outlined America’s defense of the Philippines in case the latter is invaded. It was unearthed in the research of the Civil Liberties Union (Jose Diokno, Lorenzo Tañada, JBL Reyes, Calixto Zaldivar and J. Antonio Araneta, officers), which opposed the extensions of the US Bases, which was to expire in 1977 during the martial law years.

Arroyo also recalled history when the Philippines merely became a buffer zone for US troops when Japanese troops invaded the country during World War II.

“True enough, when the Japanese invaded the Philippines after Pearl Harbor, the US followed exactly the strategy as outlined by the US War Department,” the former senator said.

He pointed out that there was, in fact, no strategy for the defense of the Philippines except to treat us as a buffer to delay the invader’s southward advance. It saved Australia but not the Philippines, Arroyo noted.

Apart from the heaps of gifts showing admiration to Obama, Arroyo said the Aquino administration also released that Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showing the trust rating of Filipinos for the US president.

“SWS gifted Mr. Obama with a survey – 85 percent of Filipinos trust the US. In his four-nation tour, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, our country was tops in gift-giving,” Arroyo added.

Arroyo’s criticism came hours after President Obama ended his Asia tour with pitch for alliance.

On Monday, Sen.Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, also slammed the EDCA after senators were blind-sided on the matter.

“This is an unfair surprise on the Philippine Senate which, under the Constitution, shares the treaty-making power with the President,” Santiago said.

As the head of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Santiago said it was expected that any such agreement would be signed by the two presidents.

“I have argued that such an agreement should first be submitted for concurrence to the Senate,” she said, adding that there was no hint that the agreement has been downgraded, for signature not by the two Presidents, but only by the defense secretary and the American ambassador in Manila.

“This contretemps does not indicate good faith on the part of the two presidents.  The use of guile in diplomacy should be limited to state-to-state situations, and should not include a situation involving only two branches of the same government,” Santiago said.