cHePaY

A Detrimental Accord

By: Cherry V. Tubes

 Upon the ratification by the
Philippine Senate, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) became effective last
May 27, 1999. This bilateral agreement between the

Philippines

and the

United States

aims to promote the interoperability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and the US Forces under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the two
countries.

 “The VFA is mutually beneficial and
strengthens the Philippine-US security relationship through military assistance,
advice and training,” Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo
stated.

 With this being said, it is evident
that there is a military intervention from the

US

to the

Philippines

.

A lousy agreement?

 In an article entitled, “What’s
wrong with the Visiting Forces Agreement?” by Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, Professor
of Political Science in the University of the

Philippines

, VFA has been described
as a lousy document because it suffers from many flaws. Among those are the
following: First, it is an affront to the Constitution. Second, it grants
extraterritorial rights to Americans. And third, it can involve the country in
unnecessary international conflicts.

 VFA affronts the constitution
because it violates a number of laws in it. One of those is the one written in
1987 Constitution (Art. II, Sec. which states that “The Philippines,
consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom
from nuclear weapons in its territory.” In the existence of VFA, the country is
not guaranteed of its right to inspect every

US

nuclear-capable aircraft and
naval vessel that they are not carrying any nuclear weapons.

 In the issue of extraterritoriality,
the

Philippines

,
as a sovereign nation subjects everybody in its laws. Its government must have
full jurisdiction over any person – citizen of visiting alien – who commits a
crime in its territory. But because of VFA, the country is subtly obliged to
abdicate its rights with respect to American soldiers and civilians.

 It is also probable that the

Philippines

might be involved in unnecessary international conflicts. This could happen
because the VFA talks of activities involving American and Filipino troops, but
these “activities” were not clearly defined. By leaving the term “activities”
vague, the VFA allows the American to undertake any kinds of military
operations based in the

Philippines

.
Meaning, it could launch missiles anytime against neighboring countries that
could cause us to have conflicts even to our allies. If this thing so happened,
we will be left unprotected for the VFA does not oblige the

US

to come to
our side in case of conflict with a third party. It is just an implementing
agreement to the MDT, which makes things worse. The MDT is a neo-colonial
instrument designed to keep us on the American side in the cold war.

Costly than beneficial

 True indeed that the US, through
VFA, has provided the country not only military assistance and trainings, but
also livelihood enhancement programs, free medical and dental services, renovations
of schools and other kinds of social help during the series of joint military
exercises.

 On the other hand, if we are going
to compare the cost that it is giving the country to the benefits that it is
providing, it is obvious that the former is greater than the latter. VFA indeed
costs more disadvantages than advantages.

 It is an undeniable fact that the

US

is just
using all the Filipinos through the VFA. And it is so frustrating that the
government is allowing these things to happen. Moreover, while the Americans
may have “good intentions,” we must realize that they are not that fool to
extend help without getting much in return.

Resources:

www.philsol.nl/A99a/VFA-Nemenzo-1.htm

www.manila.usembassy.gov

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