House wants to review all defense pacts with other nations

2:32 am | Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

The House foreign affairs committee’s submission of the resolution came after Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello filed a joint resolution seeking to terminate the VFA. PHOTO TAKEN FROM FACEBOOK.COM

Even as several lawmakers stepped up calls to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, the House committee on foreign affairs has passed a resolution to widen the coverage of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the VFA to include the country’s defense pacts with other nations.

House Joint Resolution No. 37, which now goes to the plenary for debate, would allow the oversight committee to scrutinize the Philippines’ Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with Australia, which increased military cooperation between the two countries and which was ratified earlier this year.

The resolution would also require the Legislative Oversight Committee to oversee and monitor future defense and status of forces agreements with other countries that were concurred in by the Senate.

The House foreign affairs committee’s submission of the resolution came after Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello filed a joint resolution seeking to terminate the VFA. Leila B. Salaverria

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Tags: Australia , Congress , DFA , Global Nation , Philippines , US , Visiting Forces Agreement

basilionisisa

why endanger our good relationship with other countries by abrogating the VFA? It’s like an insurance policy, you continually question the need for it if it will really serve you, but if you hang on to it and disaster happens, you will see the benefit, more than you have imagined.

Instead of terminating it, better perhaps to require a regular review and check on each member’s adherence to the regulations signed in the pact, to make improvements or corrections to issues that come to light, like the recent toxic waste dumping.

As much as we want to show we are not pushovers, we dont’ want to alienate our long-time friends. Arrogance and hollow over-confidence in our self-reliance and self-sufficiency will be our undoing. we need friends, especially the old ones. it is unwise to drop them as we are making new ones.

PurpleDaisy13

re: “why endanger our good relationship with other countries by abrogating
the VFA? It’s like an insurance policy, you continually question the
need for it if it will really serve you”

Because the VFA is not an insurance policy.

Once the VFA has been terminated, the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) shall be the next target to terminate.

Once the VFA and the MDT have both been terminated, then lawmakers will have no choice left but to terminate the section within the Philippine Constitution that renounces war as a national policy.

Once the Philippine Constitution has been corrected, the Philippines may now begin a new journey into building a real Naval Military not the nearly non-existent naval military Philippines has now.

Why rely on foreign military thousands of miles away to defend the Philippines when the best policy is for the Philippines to have the capability to defend themselves?

DakuAkongUtin

VFA is just a continuation of the pollution of South China Sea, the comeback of immoral lifestyles of Olongapo and neigboring towns and villages catering to visiting sailors and marines to have sex and sometimes drugs and illegal activities. Mga kabayan, the Lord has awaken us to the destruction wrought by the sleepy Pinatubo Volcano to wipe out all aspect s of immorality. Again, you people in govt are not listening to the punishments brought about by the Almighty. Patuloy ang mga sinful ways ninyo and VFA is a way to bring back these acts that make the Almighty angry.

Tandaan nyo pag ang Subic babalik yan, babalik rin ang mga kasalanan gaya ng Sodom and Gomorrah. Hindi natin alam ano naman ang parusa na ipahatid ng Dios sa atin? Mag iisip kayo naman mga nasa poder. We are warned by what happened in the past. To those who hae not experienced Mt Pinatubo eruption, ask someone who was there and lived to tale. The day turned into night and raining with brimstones and ashes. People cannot see a foot from them, ashes turned into cement and they hardly can breathe It was like doomsday .
opinyonlangpo

So many elected officials are against these foreign forces, those countries may as well be sarcastically sneering at the Philippines by now like the USA. Filipinos rejoiced the they kicked out US butt.

pfc_kulapu

1. “So many elected officials are against these foreign forces”
Who’s these elected official, from which group..?? BAYAD MUNA
2. “Filipinos rejoiced the they kicked out US butt.”
Who’s this filipino?? BAYAD MUNA…

opinyonlangpo

Seems you were born yesterday. That was around two decades back when your parents were still in grade school.

http://twitter.com/judefawley Jude Fawley

“Even as several lawmaker…”

And who are these several lawmakers?

House wants to review all defense pacts with other nations

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