Miriam says EDCA needs Senate consensus

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago will sponsor a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States requires Senate concurrence before it can take effect.

In a statement, Santiago said she intends to report to the Senate on Monday to sponsor the proposed Senate Resolution 1414 so that this could be debated upon and approved. 

Santiago, chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations, has taken the position that the EDCA is a treaty, so it must be sent to the Senate for concurrence as required by the Constitution.

This is contrary to the position of Malacañang that the EDCA is merely an executive agreement, thus making Senate concurrence unnecessary.

Santiago argued that Malacañang’s decision to implement the EDCA without Senate concurrence, and to downgrade it for signature not by the two presidents of concerned states but only by a Cabinet official and the US ambassador, is a betrayal of the Senate, a co-equal branch of government. 

“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,” she said in an earlier statement.

Santiago, who has been on medical leave due to lung cancer, wanted to present the resolution amid reports that the Supreme Court would be coming out with its ruling on the validity of the EDCA just before the start Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Manila this month.

She also provided the Supreme Court with a copy of the proposed resolution, which was signed by 13 senators, including her.

In the resolution, it was noted that “executive agreement” is “a term wandering alone in the Constitution, bereft of provenance and an unidentified constitutional mystery.”

Under the Constitution, “no treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all members of the Senate.”