WITH the impending abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) after the Philippine government informed the United States government that it is terminating it, the two nations have begun to prepare for the actual termination 180 days from the date of notification.
The VFA is an agreement on the holding of annual exercises to train the two nations’ troops in joint operations in case of an attack on either country’s territory. And it allows the stationing of US supplies in Philippine bases, for use in such exercises. The VFA implements the two basic defense treaties – the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
Long before the VFA officially comes to an end on or about August 9, 180 days after the Philippines gave notice of its intent to terminate it last February 11, officials on both sides are now studying plans for possible arrangements or agreements that can be followed even without the VFA.
Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose “Baby” Romualdez said Friday that he and US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim have been “talking almost every day, seeing how we can move forward with the two nations’ relationship.”
He said they were considering two possible formulas – the US Status of Forces Agreement with Japan and the US agreement with Australia. “We are trying to find ways and means to be able to see how we can either come up with something similar, still following the President’s thinking about the sovereignty issue,” Ambassador Romualdez said.
This matter of sovereignty, as President Duterte sees it in Philippine foreign relations, is ultimately the key to any new agreement. The Philippines has long been seen by many nations as still too tied up with and dependent on the US, a legacy of half a century of colonial rule highlighted by three years of a common fight against Japan in World War II.
The VFA, with its provisions allowing the US to maintain facilities and provisions inside Philippine bases, is seen by some as still allowing US forces to remain on Philippine soil in between the actual joint exercises. It was a vestige of the old bases arrangement that was, to President Duterte, an infringement on Philippine sovereignty.
There is still need for some kind of agreement between the Philippines and the US as allies in a world increasingly threatened by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State forces that joined the Mautes in seizing Marawi City in 2017.
There is still time to fill the void that will be left by the termination of VFA by August with some agreement similar to those now held by Japan and Australia, two fiercely independent and sovereign nations, with the US.