DEC.

3, 2012

NR # 2942B

Should the Visiting Forces Agreement be abrogated?

A congressional committee has endorsed to plenary the proposed expansion of the coverage of the Legislative Oversight Committee to monitor and oversee the implementation of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States to include other defense and Status of Forces Agreements with other countries. The Committee on Foreign Affairs has approved House Joint Resolution No. 37 in substitution of the original HJR No. 33 introduced by Committee Chairman Al Francis Bichara and Rep. Rodolfo Biazon. Even as the Bichara panel submitted its committee report to the Rules Committee which calendars plenary action, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Walden Bello filed HJR No. 36, referred to the Committee on National Defense, seeking the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement. The committee-approved HJR 37 expanding the coverage of the Legislative Oversight Committee not only covers the VFA agreement between the Philippines and the U.S. but also that with the government of Australia. Likewise, HJR 37 tasks the Legislative Oversight Committee to oversee and monitor future defense and Status of Forces Agreements with other countries concurred with by the Senate. The VFA is essentially a framework to promote the common security interests of the Philippines and the United States and to strengthen the bilateral defense partnership under the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty concurred with by the Senate on May 27, 1999. On the other hand, the Senate, voting 17-1, ratified the RP-Australia Status of Visiting Forces Agreement on July 24, 2012. The said agreement was in consonance with a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperative Defense Activities signed on August 22, 1995 in Canberra, Australia. Corollary to these, Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano filed HR 2888 while Reps. Rufus Rodriguez and Maximo Rodriguez jointly authored HR 2892, both asking for a congressional inquiry into the alleged dumping of toxic waste into the Subic Bay by the Malaysian shipping firm, Glenn Defense Marine Philippines. HR 2892 has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, while HR 2888 is in the hands of the Committee on Natural Resources and Ecology. (30) dpt