House wants to review all defense pacts with other nations

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