Public may access debates on Edca

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has launched an online page to provide wide public access to the coming oral arguments on the Philippines-United States Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca), with discussions highly anticipated amid renewed calls to revisit the terms of military cooperation between the two countries.

The high court on Friday activated within its website a microsite for the Nov. 18 oral arguments on Edca, uploading both petitions questioning the constitutionality of the agreement, and government’s consolidated comment on the legal action.

The microsite (https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/microsite/EDCA/#) features a tab for live audio streaming.

The Supreme Court. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Edca page also features the Oct. 21 en banc advisory announcing the schedule, including a second hearing date on Nov. 25, “for continuation of oral arguments, if necessary.”

Previously, the high court launched microsites on oral arguments on the Disbursement Acceleration Program, the Priority Development Assistance Fund, the Reproductive Health Law and the Cybercrime Act, among others.

Earlier this year, two separate petitions were filed in the high court seeking to declare the Edca unconstitutional, citing the pact’s alleged violations of constitutional provisions barring foreign military bases in the country without Senate approval and the ban on nuclear weapons.

The agreement, signed in April just before the arrival of US President Barack Obama in Manila, allows for greater US military access to the country’s military facilities as part of the US strategic pivot to the Asia Pacific, and the Philippines’ efforts to build external defense capabilities.

Petitioners against the Edca include former Senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tanada, who were among the 12 senators who voted to kick US military bases out of the country in 1991, militant umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), lawyers and representatives from the religious and the academe.

“We are ready for the oral arguments. Our lawyers just concluded a meeting today as they prepare for Nov. 18,” said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. Tarra Quismundo

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