THE Philippines and the United States signed the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) after deep and thoroughgoing studies by the two sides guided by their mutual interests. In short, it is a product of countless studies. That the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte wants to abrogate it just because of “Bato” speaks volumes of the kind of leadership that we have.
The VFA would not be the first time though that a leadership in this country sought to end a pact it entered into with the US. The administration of Corazon Aquino, through a Senate peopled by illustrious personalities and headed by the late Jovito Salonga, ended the US-RP Military Bases Agreement in the early 1990s, a decision whose implementation was sped up by Mt. Pinatubo’s lahar. But that was a far different circumstance and achievement.
The move by the Cory government was hailed by some sectors around the world and by nationalists within and outside the country who considered the US bases as an affront to our sovereignty and a constant source of abuses by American soldiers stationed there. The Duterte administration’s attempt to scuttle the VFA is a result of the US refusal to give a visa to Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a former anti-drug czar of the Philippines and who was behind the so-called Operation Tokhang.
To be fair, I say the Duterte administration’s pique over what the US government did to dela Rosa is understandable. Dela Rosa is not only a senator, he is with the President’s party and is also a close friend. One can actually take this not only as an affront to Bato but also as an affront to the President and the other Philippine leaders. So one can mine a few arguments to prop up the effort to scuttle the VFA.
But I doubt if nationalists, especially those battling US imperialism, are overjoyed by this. They surely want an enlightened populace work to scuttle the VFA and not the VFA being scuttled for the wrong reasons. An unenlightened move would eventually amount to nothing because what is scuttled can resurrect in any shape or form because the basis of the scuttling is weak.
Or this could prod us to fully pivot to China where the real vultures are. With its foot already on portions of the Spratlys, the Chinese Communist Party would be willing to put us in a tight embrace not as a brother but as people of a colony. From one exploiter we will be pivoting to another.
The VFA has its flaws but it serves to stymie Chinese incursions into our territories that it is also claiming. A weak country like ours need friends but that already disqualifies China because it has long been claiming what is ours. Consider this: Vietnam fought a war with the US in Vietnam and yet Vietnam is making friends with the US because of China’s territorial grabs.
Okay, I am already straying too far. What I am saying is that for the country, diplomacy has become an important tool for survival. It cannot be subject to the whims of mere leaders.