In the Know: Edca

The constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) between the Philippines and the United States has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The security pact, signed in April last year hours before the visit here of US President Barack Obama, reinforces the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, in which the two countries agreed to come to each other’s defense against an armed attack.

In May last year, petitions questioning the legality of the Edca were filed in the Supreme Court. The petitioners claimed that the agreement violated several provisions of the Constitution, including the ban on foreign military bases and facilities on Philippine territory without Senate approval.

The petitioners included Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada, who were among the 12 senators who voted against the US military bases in 1991, along with militant groups, lawyers and representatives from religious and academic communities.

‘Geopolitical concerns’

In defending the Edca, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) called it an executive agreement and told the court that Aquino entered into the pact as part of his sworn duty to protect the state.

The OSG cited how “geopolitical concerns today involve transboundaries”—an apparent reference to Philippine efforts to enhance its external defense capabilities in the face of unresolved territorial disputes with China and America’s strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region.

The court, it said, “should not render the President helpless or impair his ability to set up a national security apparatus in the face of clear, present and verified reports of activities that endanger the integrity of the Philippine State.”–Inquirer Research

Sources: Inquirer Archives