FOURTEEN senators filed Monday a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the termination of any treaty and international agreement concurred in by the chamber shall be valid and effective only upon concurrence by the legislative body.
The principle of checks and balances, historical precedent and practice accepted as law in most jurisdictions, and the Constitution’s dictate for a shared treaty-making power, according to the resolution, require “that a termination, withdrawal, abrogation or renunciation of a treaty or international agreement can only be done with the same authority that gave it effect – executive ratification with Senate concurrence.”
The Senate, said the 14 senators, should have a say when a treaty or international agreement concurred in by the lawmaking body is terminated or abrogated.
Senate Resolution 289 was principally authored by Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon and was signed by 13 other senators as co-authors. These include Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Minority Leader Ralph Recto, Senators Benigno Aquino IV, Leila De Lima, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Miguel Zuibiri, Gregorio Honasan, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Sonny Angara, and Joel Villanueva.
“The power to bind the Philippines by a treaty and international agreement is vested jointly by the Constitution in the President and the Senate,” it emphasizes.
"A treaty or international agreement ratified by the President and concurred in by the Senate becomes part of the law of the land and may not be undone without the shared power that put it into effect," the resolution states. (SunStar Philippines)