FORMER senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad said negotiation for five more Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the Philippines was the “highlight” of the visit of United States Vice President Kamala Harris to the country.
Tatad, in a forum organized by the Integrated Development Studies Institute (IDSI), shared the view of fellow speakers professors Butch Valdez and Harry Roque that EDCA “is unconstitutional.”
“We now have Vice President Harris with us. I don’t believe we should overstate the importance of this visit,” said Tatad, who writes a column for The Manila Times.
He said Harris “perhaps is looking at the next [US] presidential elections and whether she might run for president depends on a number of things and the Philippine visit might have [helped her decide if she would].”
“But the real issue is EDCA. Now I agree that we have to let go of this. This is unconstitutional. The term used is ‘agreed locations.’ This I believe is a euphemism for bases,” Tatad pointed out.
The White House, on its website, said the 2014 EDCA builds on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement.
It provides a legal basis for Philippine and American soldiers to undertake joint military exercises and rapid relief efforts during disasters.
The new EDCA locations “have also been identified to enable the United States and the Philippines to continue to work together toward achieving the agreed objectives under EDCA,” the White House said.
Tatad explained, “In case of war and the Americans start using these agreed facilities, we will able to see that they’ll be functioning as nakedly as possible as military bases.”
“We won’t get involved there. They will be running these facilities independently on their own without any participation of the Philippine government,” he said.
Roque warned, “If we are going to put an end to both EDCA and MDT, the Americans would surely take steps to remove [President] BBM ([Ferdinand] Bongbong Marcos Jr.) in the same way that they already removed past presidents and will install a puppet government.”
Reacting to Harris’ visit in relation to EDCA, the IDSI said, “Today, we need to focus on building more bridges, not bases. On economic cooperations, not military provocations. The Philippines must avoid becoming the unnecessary central battleground of any powers.”
“A mutual defense agreement under current terms requires the Philippines to enter in any fight of the US and her allies regardless if we agree or not. Since China has no interest in invading the Philippines, what benefit is there for the Philippines to give up its sovereign decision-making to the US?” it also said in a statement.
When asked whether the foreign policy of Marcos can be seen as a shift from the “independent” foreign policy of the previous Duterte administration, Tatad said, “President Bongbong has reiterated it in his own way by saying the Philippines will be ‘a friend to all and enemy to none.’ That is a statement of independence. And I don’t believe he is shifting from that.”
“Besides we have not heard about what commitments the President has made to Vice President Harris and what the United States has committed to the Philippines on her visit,” he added.
“So, I think we can afford to wait. Find out. Let’s hear what we are going to be told. Then we can analyze,” Tatad said.
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