THE imperialist United States remains on tenterhook after Pres. Rodrigo Duterte refuses to be pressured by US stooges inside and outside his Cabinet to lift the suspension of the ‘Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
Like all previous treaties and agreement the Philippines signed with the United States since the former purportedly gained independence from US imperialist control and domination in 1946, the VFA, signed during the term of Pres. Joseph Estrada, was lopsidedly in favor of US Imperialism.
Among others, the VFA stipulated the following:
It allows the U.S. government to retain jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel accused of committing crimes in the Philippines, unless the crimes are “of particular importance to the Philippines.”
This means that for crimes without this significance, the U.S. can refuse to detain or arrest accused personnel, or may instead prosecute them under U.S. jurisdiction. The Agreement also exempts U.S. military personnel from visa and passport regulations in the Philippines.
The Agreement contains various procedural safeguards which amongst other things establish the right to due process and proscribe double jeopardy.
The Agreement also prevents U.S. military personnel from being tried in Filipino religious or military courts; requires both governments to waive any claims concerning loss of materials (though it does require that the U.S. honor contractual arrangements and comply with U.S. law regarding payment of just and reasonable compensation in settlement of meritorious claims for damage, loss, personal injury or death, caused by acts or omissions of United States personnel); exempts material exported and imported by the US military from duties or taxes; and, worse, allows unrestricted movement of U.S. vessels and aircraft in the Philippines.
It can be recalled that Pres. Duterte initially decided to totally scrap the VFA in January 2020, after the US government decline to issue a visa to Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa and other Philippine officials the US accused of human rights violations in the implementation of the government’s ‘War on Drugs.’ Dela Rosa was Pres. Duterte’s first Philippine police chief.
Subsequently, Pres. Duterte was “persuaded” by US minions in his Cabinet like foreign affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin and Philippine ambassador to the US, Jose Manuel ‘Babes’ Romualdez, along with US puppets in the Philippine military, to just “suspend” the VFA pending a “review” by both sides.
Twice already since last year, Pres. Duterte opted to instead “extend” by 6 months the VFA’s suspension.
In a tweet on Monday, June 14, 2021, Locsin said Pres. Duterte is “extending” the suspension of the VFA for another 6 months more.
The VFA is strategically critical for US Imperialism as it ramps up its war preparations against mainland China, as part of its ‘first island chain’ strategy along with Japan and Taiwan.
The strategy calls for the use of these island states in launching the US’s war of aggression against the Chinese mainland.
Many observers believed that the intense propaganda barrage launched by local US stooges starting last March over the purported occupation of “hundreds” of “Chinese militia vessels” in islands also claimed by the Philippines at the South China Sea is part of the effort to pressure Pres. Duterte into finally reinstating the VFA.
However, Malacañang announced that Pres. Duterte is amenable to reinstate the VFA if he can get a “satisfactory” explanation from the United States as to why it allowed China to have full control of ‘Baja de Masinloc’ (Scarborough Shoal) in 2012 at the expense of its treaty ally, the Philippines,
At the time, the Philippines and China are in a stand-off at the shoal. However, the Aquino administration agreed to leave the shoal after being informed by the US State Department that it has brokered a deal whereby China purportedly also agreed to leave.
It turned out there was no deal at all and the Philippines again lost another piece of its territory after Sabah, where the Americans, in the 1960s, also did not lift a finger to force Malaysia to return Sabah to the Philippines.