Itepublir of tbo l0rilippirrPd

Srnatr, lPaggp (Lity

$enstor frlirisnr Detengor Sontiugo

Chair, Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, Committee on Forcign Relations,
Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Overseas Absentec Voting Act; Legislativc Oversight Comrnittee on the Visiting Forces Agreement

'. ; " !
:-r-r- -.l-lJj->--\.L
I

30 June 2015

JUii 3 0

2015
I

_'r:l

t_

BY
TINTE

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes P.A. Sereno

Supreme Court of the Philippines
By fax and by hand

oFllGt ur

I nE
Court

ill illl
Dear Madame Chief Justice:

To

lollor

up, pla,olta lha numlar abov'

x/0

This is to respectfully enclose, for the presumable infbrmation of the Supreme Cour1.
the copy of Senate Resolution No. 1414, entitled "Resolution expressing the strong sense of
the Senate that any treaty ratified by the President of the Philippines should be concurred in
by the Senate, otherwise the treaty becomes invalid and ineffective."
Thank yclu fbr your forbearance.

Sincerely yours,

6i*,#$*, "fuW
Committee on Foreign Relations

Encl.:
As stated.

lvlain: 4lF Narsan Blg.,3 Wcst Fourth St., West'l'riangle, Quezon City
'lelephones 372-4573.371-9156,41 l-4380 * Fax 376-5936
Enrail

rniriam(aJmiriam.com.ph * Website: rvww.miriam.com.ph

Senale: Room 52l-A, Senate ofthe t hilippines, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City
'l'elephones 552-6693 * 552-6601 to 80 loc. 5561,5562,5563 * Fax
552-6692

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF TIIE REPUBLIC

OF TFIE PHILIPPINES
Third Regular Session

SENATE
P. s. R.

No.

)
)
)

l{lll

t9llrrr ,,f ii,r irihtsrg

'15

JUN

29

itF.{'tilVLir it}

d"

Introduced by Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago, Sonny M. Angara,

Pia S. Cayetano, Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada,
Teofisto L. Guingona III, Manuel 'oLito" M. Lapid, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.,
Sergio R. Osmefla III, Aquilino L. Pimentel III, Ralph G. Recto,
Ramon B. Revilla Jr., and Cynthia A. Villar

1
2
3
4
5

EXPRESSING THE STRONG SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT ANY TREATY

RATIFIED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES SHOULD BE
CONCURRED IN BY TFIE SENATE, OTHERWISE TI{E TREATY BECOMES

6
7
8
t

WHEREAS, the treaty known as RP-US EDCA (Enhanced Defense

Cooperation Agreement) is at present subject of Supreme Court proceedings on the
question of whether this treaty is valid and effective, considering that the Senate
has not concurred with the treaty;

RESOLUIION

INVALID AND INEFFECTIVE;

1l

WHEREAS, the Office of the President argues that the document is not a
treaty but is instead an executive agreement that allegedly does not require Senate

12

concuffence;

10

13

14
15

t6
t7

l8
19

20

2t

22
23

WHEREAS, the only constitutional ground for the position taken by the
Executive is the mere inclusion of the term "executive agreement" in the
Constitution which provides: "All cases involving the constitutionality of an....
executive agreement...." (Article 8, Section 4,para.2) as one of items included in
the list of cases which the Supreme Court has power to decide;
WHEREAS, there is no other provision in the Confiitution concerning a socalled executive agreement, and there is no mention at all of its definition, its
requirements, the role of the Senate, or any other characteristic of, or protocol for,
any such so-called "executive agreement";

WHEREAS, "executive agreement"

is a term

wandering alone

in

Constitution, bereft of provenance and an unidentified constitutional mystery;

P3:25

the

.a
I
2
J

4
5

6
7
8

r0
1l
r2
13

t4
l5
t6

WHEREAS, in stark contrast to the lone mention of the term "executive

agreement," the Constitution provides categorically

a. "No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless

concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate."
(Article 7, Section 21)

b. "After the expiration in

1991 of the Agreement between the Republic of

the Philippines and the United States of America concerning Military
Bases, foreign military bases, troops, or facilities shall not be allowed in
the Philippines except under atreaty duly concurred in by the Senate and,
when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by
the people in a national referendum held for that pu{pose, and recognized
as a treaty by the other contracting State." (Article 18, Section25);

WHEREAS, on the one hand, the Constitution is c/ear and categorical that
Senate concurence is absolutely necessary for the validity and effectivity of any
treaty, particularly any treaty that promotes for foreign military bases, troops, and
facilities, such as the EDCA;

2t

WHEREAS, under the rules of constitutional and statutory construction, the

two constitutional provisions on Senate concurrence are specific provisions; while
the lone constitutional provision merely mentioning an "executive agreement" is a
general provision; and therefore the specific provisions on Senate concuffence
prevail over the general provision on "executive agreement";

22
23

WHEREAS, the Senate is aware of and obeys the ruling of the Supreme
Court in Pimentel v. Office of the Executive Seuetary,462 SCRA 622 (2005);

24

28

WHEREAS, the ruling cited above does not apply to the EDCA case,
because the Senate makes no attempt to force the President of the Philippines to
submit the EDCA treaty for concurrence by the Senate; by this resolution, the
Senate merely takes a definitive stand on the non-negotiaQle power of the Senate to
decide whether a treaty will be valid and effective, depending on Senate

29

concuffence;

30

WHEREFORE, be it hereby resolved by the Senate that the RP-US EDCA

treaty requires Senate conculrence, in order to be valid and effective;

17
18

t9
20

25

26
27

3t
32

JJ

Be it further resolved that this resolution expressing the strong sense of the
Senate be formally submitted to the Supreme Court through the Chief Justice.
Adopted,

Committee on Foreign Relations

/"

Y-

vfk-

W
FERDIN

sERq

TANO

:TAR

/v'rtl

osvrEfir A III

R.

,"*^z[^rt

JOSEPH VICTOR

EJERCITO

COS JR.

. PIMENTEL

EJER

TEOFISTO

GUINGONA III

VILLA
I

M. LAPID

CYNTHIA A. VILLAR

JR.

III