Locsin cuts PCVF proposed 2021 budget by P16.09M to ‘reflect’ VFA abrogation

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Thursday told senators that he slashed the proposed budget allocation for the Presidential Commission on Visiting Forces (PCVF) by P16.09 million with the looming abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

During the Senate hearing on the proposed P22.09-billion budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for 2021, Locsin said the original proposal for the budget of the PCVF was P28.09 million.

The PCVF is an attached agency of the DFA.

“The PCVF budget must reflect the fact that we have abrogated the VFA, we have merely suspended it. I cut it down to P12 million,” he added.

On January 23, President Rodrigo Duterte gave the US government 30 days to rectify the visa cancellation of his political ally, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, or he would discontinue the two-decade-old military accord.

The Philippines officially pulled out from the defense agreement on February 11.

But Locsin, upon the order’s of the President, suspended the revocation of the VFA.

The suspension will only be effective for six months from June 1 and will be “extendible by the Philippines for another six months.” [ac]