Imee on PH-US EDCA: 'We will push the right button'
Senator Imee Marcos today (Sept. 8) said she would ‘’push the right button’’ on some issues surrounding Philippine-US military agreements when she goes to Washington D.C. this month.
This after Marcos asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the defuse establishment for ‘’briefers’’’ (briefing materials) on the 1951 PH-US Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT), the 2016 PH-US Enhanched Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and the 1998 PH-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
During the organisational meeting of her Senate foreign relations committee today, Marcos told the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that the MDT is not clear.
She said pronouncements by US officials on how they would help the Philippines in case of attacks on ‘’public vessels’’ have been made ‘’but these are statements.’’
‘’What does the Philippines expect from the US?,’’ she asked.
Assurances had been made by US State Department Secretary Michael Pompeyo to then DFA Secretary Teodoro Tocsin Jr. that the MDT would be adhered to adhered to if its ally was a victim of aggression, and singled out China as a threat to stability.
“China’s island-building and military activities in the South China Sea threaten your sovereignty, security and therefore economic livelihood as well as that of the United States,” Pompeyo told a news conference in Manila in 2019.
Recently, State Department Secretary Antony Blinken affirmed the same assurance.
The US government, however, still has to seek approval from its Congress should it go to war.
‘ The National Security Council said the MDT should reflect what’s happening in the ground.
Manalo said the DFA has begun clarifying talks with the US ‘’on the senior official level.’’
He said the DFA is looking at the US-Japan treaty as a model.
Defense officials said the EDCA is not fully implemented.
When asked by Marcos on how many percent has the US complied with its commitment on infrastructures at EDCAs, the answer was ‘’25 percent.’’
‘’This is very slow implementation. It is miserable,’’ Marcos said.
The EDCA is intended to bolster the US-Philippine alliance.
The agreement allows the United States to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays and allows the United States to build and operate facilities on Philippine bases, for both American and Philippine forces. The US is not allowed to establish any permanent military bases. It also gives Philippine personnel access to American ships and planes
Marcos asked aloud if there is a need to amend the VFA.