Bato on ending VFA with US: ‘I don’t deserve this bargain but it’s not all about me’

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado on July 4, 2019. INQUIRER.net file photo / CATHY MIRANDA

MANILA, Philippines — “I don’t deserve this bargain but it is not all about me. It is about a one-sided foreign relations.”

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said this on Thursday as he backed the termination of the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States should the US government would not rectify the cancellation of his visa.

“Ok lang mga sundalo nila labas pasok sa ating teritoryo [It is OK for American soldiers to go in and out of our territory] while a senator of this republic is barred from entering their territory due to their intentions of tinkering with our domestic affairs,” Dela Rosa went  on in a text message.

On Wednesday, the senator confirmed that the US had revoked his visa.

This prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to threaten on Thursday the termination of  the VFA  if the US would not correct the cancellation of Dela Rosa’s visa within one month.

“I’m warning you. This is the first time. Kapag hindi ninyo ginawa ang correction diyan [If you do not correct that], one: I will terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement. Tapusin ko ‘yan pu**** in*** yan [I’ll end that son of a bitch],” Duterte said in a speech in Leyte.

Dela Rosa said this goes to show that Duterte is “a leader who doesn’t want his people treated unfairly.”

So when asked if he would support the VFA’s termination if his US visa is not restored,  the senator gave a resounding “yes” reply.

As former Philippine National Police chief, Dela Rosa led the government’s  bloody war on drugs, which was widely criticized as  thousands of drug suspects ended up dead.