MANILA, Philippines — This is not the time to “do a Pelosi” and rip up the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said this on Thursday in reference to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who ripped up her copy of U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
“This is not the time to do a Pelosi and rip up the VFA,” Recto said in a statement as the Senate foreign relations committee is reviewing the said military accord after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to scrap it over the visa cancelation of Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
Recto said the termination of the VFA should “could come later” in a manner that is “planned and programmed” and not “rushed” or “out of pique.’
“Certainly not this time when an intruder has built and continues to build what have become the bases of our insecurity right under our belly,” he said.
“If we abrogate the VFA, this sharp contrast will not escape our people’s attention: On how we could let the red carpet stay for someone who has taken our land while booting the one who has been on our side in protesting such occupation,” he added.
Recto did not refer to any country when he said this but it can be noted that the Philippines and China have been locked in a long-standing maritime dispute.
China has sweeping claims in the South China Sea, including parts of the Philippines Sea.
The United States, meanwhile, has repeatedly renewed its commitment under its Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines.
Under the MDT, each party “would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes” should there be an armed attack in the Pacific area.
“The VFA is far from a perfect agreement. It has kinks to our disadvantage too many to count,” Recto went on.
“But these flaws are compensated, in part, by the help we get from the United States in times of natural disasters, of which we are one of the world’s most prone,” he added.
The senator recalled how the United States become first responders, dispatching entire carrier groups to our aid during the powerful typhoons of the past decade in the country.
“Because we are too poor to modernize our military, we have relied on Americans to become a de facto disaster response unit. And that is the inconvenient truth,” Recto said.