Edca talks hit roadblock

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Armed Forces chief Gregorio Pio Catapang said Tuesday that they could not hold formal talks with the United States Armed Forces on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement Forces as the Supreme Court still has to decide on the constitutionality of the accord.

“As of now we can’t do anything on Edca, absolutely nothing,” Catapang said in a media briefing Tuesday.

Catapang held a meeting with Admiral Samuel Locklear, Commander of the United States Pacific Command, at Camp Aguinaldo for the Philippine-US bilateral security relations.

Catapang and Locklear are co-chairs of the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board.

Several complaints have been lodged against Edca, but these mostly center on questions about the legality of the agreement that allows American troops to use Philippine military bases.

“We want to talk about Edca, unfortunately we could not move forward if there are legal impediments,” Catapang said.

He, however, said that they can speak of Edca only informally.

“If the Supreme Court decides that the Edca is constitutional, we will start meeting about it,” Catapang said.

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