Senate President Franklin Drilon. PRIB FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate could not compel Malacañang to submit the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) for ratification, but the Palace should have been “prudent” enough to consult senators before sealing the deal with the United States.
Thus, said Senate President Franklin Drilon, who also maintained that the EDCA enjoyed a “presumption of constitutionality,” citing also the presumption of “regularity in the performance of functions” by members of the Philippine panel that negotiated with the US.
“We cannot force them to submit [EDCA for ratification] that’s why it’s better to bring the matter to the Supreme Court, which could, through mandamus, order that it be brought to the Senate,” he said in Filipino in a radio interview over DZBB.
Drilon, a member of President Aquino’s Liberal Party, admitted that the Senate should have been “consulted” prior to the signing of EDCA, which came three hours before US President Barack Obama visited Manila last April 28.
“Of course, prudence would have dictated that there should have been consultation, but the executive branch thought that it had already briefed and consulted with the appropriate Senate committees,” he said.
Senators are expected to tackle EDCA in a caucus when session resumes today (May 5). Drilon said he did receive a “regular update” on the status of negotiations prior to the signing of the new defense agreement.
According to Drilon, the “burden” is now with the executive branch to explain why it does not consider EDCA a new treaty.
“How is it different from the bases agreement, from the situations before in Subic and Clark?” he asked, referring to the former US military bases that were shut down in 1991.
“What’s the difference [for Malacañang] to say that this is not a treaty that needs ratification and concurrence of the Senate, which has treaty-making authority? How does the executive justify that this is not a treaty? We will listen to all these in the coming days,” he added.
Malacañang has insisted that EDCA is a mere executive agreement, not a new treaty, and thus, does not require Senate ratification. Former Sen. Joker Arroyo argued that EDCA was the Aquino administration’s way to go around the constitutional provision banning foreign bases in the country.
Responding to Arroyo’s criticism, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said EDCA included a “clear provision that the US would not establish a permanent military presence or base in the Philippines.”
“This is even worse. You allow your bases to be used by the American forces,” Arroyo had said.
Sen. Grace Poe, another administration ally, said EDCA had “many good points,” and that she also considered the document an executive agreement, not a treaty. But she asked how it would apply in case of an attack on the Philippines.
“My question is: let’s say there’s an invasion, we are attacked, how fast will the Americans come to our assistance? Will they still go through a UN resolution?” she said over Nimfa Ravelo’s program over DZBB.
Poe was referring to Article 1 of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), which was cited in the preamble of the EDCA. It states that both the US and the Philippines “undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international disputes in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered.”
The MDT also mentions that both parties would “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”
Poe was also concerned about the provisions of EDCA if American troops committed a crime while in the Philippines. “What would be the liability if one of them commits a crime? How do we protect our people, our women?” she asked.
Asked why EDCA was signed even without details of the “agreed locations” or bases to be accessed by US troops, Drilon said the implementation of the new agreement should be “watched closely.”
Under EDCA, US “access to and use of facilities and areas will be at the invitation of the Philippines and with full respect for the Philippine Constitution and Philippine laws.”
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