Philippines vulnerable in South China Sea without US support, foreign secretary Locsin warns
- President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to terminate Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which allows American forces to train in Philippines, due to diplomatic row
- Teodoro Locsin Jnr, however, told Senate the relationship with Washington remained vital to ‘countering threats to national security’
“I’m warning you … if you won’t do the correction on this, I will terminate the … Visiting Forces Agreement. I’ll end that son of a b***h,” the brash-speaking Duterte said in a January 23 speech.
Dela Rosa served as Duterte’s first national police chief and enforcer of the president’s deadly anti-drugs crackdown in 2016. Thousands of mostly poor suspects have been killed under the campaign, alarming the US and other Western governments and human rights watchdogs.
Dela Rosa and later Duterte have said Dela Rosa’s visa was cancelled, but US officials have not addressed the matter.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr used a televised Senate hearing to enumerate what he described as crucial security, trade and economic benefits the accord provides. The US is a long-time treaty ally, a major trading partner and the largest development aid provider to the Philippines.
“While the Philippines has the prerogative to terminate the VFA anytime, the continuance of the agreement is deemed to be more beneficial to the Philippines compared to any predicates were it to be terminated,” Locsin said.
The accord, known by its acronym VFA, took effect in 1999 to provide legal cover for the entry of American forces to the Philippines for joint training with Filipino troops.