EDCA: A treaty or not? It looks like a treaty!

 Looking at the photos and video footages of US Pres. Barrack Obama and Pres. Benigno Aquino III at Malacañang, one would think that the whole thing was scripted. Pres. Aquino said his government has done a lot by filing cases against the killers of media personalities in the country. But then, we can no longer trust anything that comes out of the mouth of PNoy. What did you expect him to say before the most powerful man in the world who was just inches away from him?

But the fact remains that journalists in this country are a threatened species and no matter what Pres. Aquino says, the Philippines is still a very dangerous country for journalists. I mean, 26 journalist killed since Pres. PNoy took office is a number that can no longer be ignored. But then, as if on cue, US Pres. Barrack Obama suddenly denied the figure raised by a Fox News reporter about the 26 journalists killed under the Presidency of Aquino. Surely that Fox News reporter got those figures from a legitimate source. Now they both sound like Batman and Robin, the dynamic duo.

So now that the Philippine government and the United States of America have signed that Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement we would like to know whether this agreement comes in the form of a treaty or not? While this wasn't signed by Pres. PNoy Aquino and Pres. Barrack Obama, I would like to believe that the Executive Branch of the government shouldn't be signing anything until and unless the whole process was discussed, debated and approved by the Philippine Senate.

Let me point out very clearly that it was the Philippine Senate that rejected a renewal of the US Military Bases agreement in September 1991. While both presidents say that the EDCA isn't a base agreement, I still strongly believe that the Senate must authorize the Executive Branch to enter into such an agreement. Hence this will be a new case that will be filed against the Aquino regime.

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With the Supreme Court ruling which states that the Reproductive Health Law was "not unconstitutional", pro-RH advocates are not filing any appeal in the Supreme Court. That means they have accepted the SC ruling.

This report came from former Albay Congressman Edcel Lagman, who spearheaded the pro-RH juggernaut being the principal author of the RH Law. Lagman believes that the "Heart and soul of the law remain unsullied." Lagman said, "The option is not to seek reconsideration sends the clear message that the provisions declared unconstitutional have peripheral effect on the law, whose main import and general efficacy have not been diminished and its implementation unhampered." Lagman believes that by not pursuing any reconsideration, he says that the government can now concentrate its efforts on fully implementing the law.

Now what about the anti-RH groups? The last I heard from them was that they would be seeking reconsideration for they want a total rejection of the RH Law. As we've pointed out many times already, the RH Law has been rendered as "toothless" because the penal provisions has been struck down by the SC. But many of us have always believed that the RH law is the launch pad for the more sinister battle that is to come, same sex marriage, divorce, and abortion. That's why I fully concur that we should seek reconsideration hoping that the SC would finally throw out the RH Law into the dustbin of history.

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At yesterday's 888 Forum the special guest was Immigration Commissioner Salvador Mison II who came to Cebu to inform us of a new Immigration Law which was crafted 4 decades ago. The bureau seeks to retain a portion of the money they earn for upgrading. Wow! See how ugly the old system of governance was. It was the time when agencies earning money for the national government had to beg for that money to improve their facilities. Mactan Airport earns at least P3 million daily for the Immigration Bureau.

I forwarded my own complaint about the current problems at the Mactan Cebu International Airport wherein whenever two or three international flights arrive at the same time, the airport terminal looks more like Carbon Market than an airport due to lack of personnel. Comm. Mison admits this problem, which is why he told us that the Immigration Bureau is now recruiting 400 new immigration officers, and will hire more.

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