(Eagle News) — The Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States will be rendered useless if the Visiting Forces Agreement is terminated, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
In a statement, Lacson said the MDT, which posits that the Philippines and the US would act in accordance with the Constitution should there be an armed attack on either one of them, “will now be reduced to a mere paper treaty as far as the US is concerned.”
“Having said that, there’s no more intelligence information sharing in our fight against domestic and foreign terrorist acts, no more US military aid and financing accounting for a good 52% of what they extend to the whole Asia-Pacific region,” Lacson said.
“Like it or not, bad or good, nothing much can be done now but do a 180-day countdown upon receipt of the notice by Washington,” he added.
Earlier, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay Jr. said Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. had signed the notice of termination of the VFA, which governs the conduct of American soldiers on Philippine soil.
He said this was upon orders of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The President had threatened to scrap the VFA after Senator Ronald dela Rosa said his US visa was cancelled.
He said he believed this was because of his role as former national police chief in the drug war, which the US has repeatedly criticized.
He said Duterte’s threat to scrap the VFA was because of one-sided foreign relations.
In a speech on Monday, Duterte said his counterpart, US President Donald Trump and others were trying to save the VFA, “pero ayoko.”
