A group of protesters march towards the Malacanang Presidential Palace, during a rally against U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to the Philippines Monday, April 28, 2014, in Manila, Philippines. AP
MANILA, Philippines – A militant partylist group slammed the newly signed defense pact between the US and Philippines, and has brought up the idea of challenging it before the Supreme Court.
“This early we are already studying the option of questioning the EDCA at the Supreme Court because it is a clear violation of our Constitution particularly Sections 3 and 7 and possibly Section 8 of Article II. We are also of the position that this is not a mere executive agreement but a treaty and should be scrutinized by the Senate and the House of Representatives,” said Bayan Muna Representative Neri Javier Colmenares.
Colmenares and Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, also of Bayan Muna, said the deal, which was signed on Monday at Camp Aguinaldo hours before US President Barack Obama arrived in the country for a two-day visit, was “patently unconstitutional.”
“Even if they say that “key provisions and modalities of the EDCA would reflect, among others, full respect for Philippine sovereignty, nonpermanence of US troops and no US military basing in the Philippines and a prohibition against nuclear weapons, we all know that these can be circumvented by the fact that in reality it is the US government that is the one calling the shots and not the Aquino administration,” said Colmenares.
“In fact based on the document ‘Question and Answer on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)’ released by Malacañang, the US would at least have 10 years of using Philippine bases and there would be no limit to the US troops that would come to the country. They can also preposition jets and warships in our territory. The US can also make facilities and upgrade infrastructure e.g. bases, command centers and the like for their purposes. These are at the very least very questionable and should be scrutinized because as it is, in paper it is a Philippine base but in reality it is a US base,” he added.
‘Deceptive deal’
Zarate, meanwhile, said that although the deal is supposed to prohibit nuclear weapons, “the US maintains neither a confirm nor deny policy if their ships or planes carry nuclear weapons.”
“Furthermore, they already found a way to circumvent the constitutional ban on the presence of foreign troops in the country thru the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) but now they will further maximize this and increase US troop presence in the country, a member of the PH negotiating panel for the EDCA even said that it may even allow tens of thousands of US troops or even more depending on their so-called activities in the country. So in truth the EDCA is a very deceptive deal,” said Zarate.
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