MANILA, Philippines — Diplomatic officials advised President Rodrigo Duterte on the potential effects of
terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States but the decision to end the pact had already
been made by then.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. previously said he would prefer a vigorous review of the military pact with the US rather than
terminating it completely.
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In a Senate hearing Thursday, a DFA official admitted that they had advised Duterte on the risks of ending the VFA, which stands as a legal framework for
the presence of US military personnel in the Philippines.
"Secretary Locsin met with the president and Ambassador [Jose Manuel] Romualdez... but the president had already
made up his mind and it's a decision
, of course, that we're bound to pursue," Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Igor Bailen told the Senate panel.
Romualdez is Philippine ambassador to the US.
Duterte initially said he would
terminate the country's defense pact with the US if it fails to "correct" the visa cancellation of Sen. Bato
dela Rosa, Philippine National Police chief when the so-called war on drugs
was launched in 2016.
Asked about the real reasons
why the Philippines is ending the deal, Bailen said, "The DFA — we don't think we could read beyond what the president has pronounced on as to the reasons."
Senate concurrence not needed to end VFA
Bailen, who heads the DFA Office of Treaties and Legal Affairs, also told the Senate that the termination of the VFA does not require Senate concurrence.
"The president is the singular voice and authority of the country in foreign relations," Bailen said.
"The role of the Senate in the treaty process is to give or withhold its consent or to concur in the president's ratification," he added.
The DFA official cited two provisions in the 1987 Constitution requiring Senate concurrence in presidential ratification on treaties.
Under Section 21, Article 7 of the Constitution:
No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.
Section 25, Article 18 of the Constitution states that:
After the expiration in 1991 of the Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America concerning Military Bases, foreign military bases, troops, or facilities shall not
be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the other contracting State.
Bailen further noted that participation of the Senate in treaty making was to provide a system of checks and balances on the executive branch in
the field of foreign relations but
this is limited to giving or withholding the consent or concurrence in the ratification.
"When President Duterte sent the VFA notice of termination, he was merely exercising his diplomatic powers granted to him by the Constitution. As the power to enter
into treaties
is vested in the president, the power to
terminate the same is incidental or residual thereto," Bailen said.