FOURTEEN senators adopted on Tuesday a resolution expressing the strong sense of the Senate that any treaty, such as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) that was ratified by the President should be concurred in by the chamber otherwise it becomes “invalid and ineffective.”
The 14 senators who voted to adopt Senate Resolution No. 1414 initiated by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, were Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, Chiz Escudero, Teofisto Guingona, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Serge Osmeña, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Grace Poe, Ralph Recto and Cynthia Villar.
Only Senator Antonio Trillanes IV voted against the resolution while Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile abstained.
In her sponsorship speech on the resolution, Santiago cited Article 7, Section 21 of the Treaty Clause of the Constitution, which states that “No treaty or international [agreement] shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all members of the Senate.”
“This is the only provision of the fundamental law that determines the validity and effectiveness of treaties as law of the land. Other than concurrence of the Senate, no authority expressly transforms a treaty into law,” she said.
Trillanes stood up on the floor to oppose the resolution, saying that the Edca is not a treaty or an international agreement.
“The Edca was intended by the Philippines and the United States to be an executive agreement to implement the respective obligations under 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)between the two countries, the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which is a treaty concurred in by the Senate and which has been upheld by the SC and the United Nation’s Charter of which both the Philippines and the US are signatories,” he said.
“In a matter of speaking, the Edca is merely an implementing agreement which is intended to implement the rights and obligations already previously provided under the MDT, the VFA and the UN Charter.”
Trillanes pointed out that no new rights or obligations were created and obligated under Edca.
“The Edca merely amplifies and provides implementing details as to how the parties may exercise such rights and obligations in view of the p prevailing circumstances,” he said.
“The Edca is no new different from the Mutual logistic support agreement (MLSA) which was signed in November 2007 and the same agreement between the US and the PH was not ratified by this august chamber and I believe most of the senators present here allowed such a condition and in fact the MLSA expired back in 2012 without having to go through the same scrutiny that we intend this Edca to go through,” he further said.
Trillanes later moved for a nominal vote on the measure.
READ: Senators: Senate concurrence needed to make treaties like Edca valid
In abstaining, Enrile said the resolution was no longer necessary, saying it was just a reiteration of Section 21 of Article 7.
“It’s a constitutional provision that any treaty if it’s indeed a treaty under international law, then it has to pass the Senate’s concurrence and so why should we teach the Supreme Court though this resolution or inform them of our position when all of us must know the Constitution that’s why I abstain,” he said.
Drilon said he also abstained “in deference to the Supreme Court where the issue as to whether that is a treaty or executive agreement is pending.”