SC diminished Senate’s treaty powers–Miriam

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/GRIG MONTEGRANDE

SEN. MIRIAM Defensor-Santiago has rallied the Senate to stand its ground against two agreements entered into by Malacañang allowing large-scale US military presence in the country, despite the Supreme Court’s decision last Tuesday that upheld the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca).

She said the high court diminished the Senate’s treaty-making powers when in a 10-4 vote it ruled that the Edca did not need the Senate’s approval since it was not a treaty but an “implementing agreement” of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Santiago, who is running for President, said President Aquino “openly defied” the Constitution when he struck a deal to bring foreign troops and facilities here without a Senate treaty.

“The Supreme Court contradicts the power of the Senate. The Constitution clearly states that without Senate concurrence, no treaty can become law. Now the Court is saying that the executive may call agreements by another name in order to bypass the Senate,” she said in a statement Sunday.

Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, contradicted the court’s claim that the President’s powers included the authority to enter into executive agreements such as the Edca.

“It is true that the President has broad powers in foreign relations but it excludes what is prohibited by the Constitution,” she argued, invoking Article 18, Section 25 of the Constitution. Dona Z. Pazzibugan

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