Palace on VFA termination: Philippines cannot forever rely on US

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines cannot forever rely on the protection of the United States, Malacañang said Thursday as it again defended the country’s move to terminate a key military agreement with the global superpower.

Upon President Rodrigo Duterte’s order, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) formally sent the notice to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a move the US Embassy in Manila described as “a serious step with significant implications for the US-Philippines alliance.”

READ: BREAKING: Philippines officially terminates VFA with US

“As the President says, if we keep on relying on the United States on our defense, our defenses will always remain stagnant or weak. We have to strengthen our own defense. We cannot be forever relying on the Americans for our defenses,” Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

The US government has 180 days from the day of receipt to renegotiate the Philippines’ decision to terminate the VFA, a defense pact signed in 1998 that created a legal framework for the presence of US troops in the Philippines and for organizing joint military exercises.

On Wednesday, the Palace official also said that the Philippines’ decision to dissolve the military pact is actually a “move in the right direction” and will stop the country from being a “parasite” to another country in terms of protecting its independence and sovereignty.

This was after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper declared that nullifying the VFA was “unfortunate” and “a move in the wrong direction.”

“From our point of view, however, the decision to terminate the VFA is a move in the right direction that should have been done a long time ago,” Panelo said in a statement. “We must stand on our own and put a stop to being a parasite to another country in protecting our independence and sovereignty,” he added.

President Donald Trump has already addressed the issue, saying that he is “fine” with Duterte’s directive and will actually save the Americans a lot of money.

READ: Trump ‘fine’ with end of Philippines military pact</

“If they would like to do that, that’s fine, we’ll save a lot of money,” Trump said.

Since being elected president in 2016, Duterte has repeatedly alluded to severing ties with the US while pursuing closer ties with the country’s non-traditional allies, Russia and China.

Duterte has ordered the termination of the military pact after the US canceled the visa of his longtime confidant Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who has also led his bloody war on drugs during his term as national police chief.

GSG