MIRIAM, AKBAYAN PARTY-LIST FILE JOINT RESOLUTION
TO TERMINATE VFA

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (LOVFA), and AKBAYAN Party-List Rep. Walden Bello today filed a joint resolution to terminate the VFA.

The joint resolution also directed Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to serve the notice of termination of the VFA to the United States.

Aside from the inequity of the VFA on the jurisdiction and custody over U.S. servicemen who have committed crimes in our country, Santiago also called for its termination due to its unfavorable effect to the country's sovereignty, environment, and human rights record.

The joint resolution enumerated the following controversies involving US military forces in the country:

In 2012, Glen Defense Marine Asia, a US Navy contractor, was investigated for allegedly dumping hazardous wastes in Subic Bay; In 2013, the USS Guardian ran aground the Tubbataha Reefs, causing massive damage to the Reefs; and On 11 October 2014, transwoman Jennifer Laude died in an Olongapo City motel, allegedly in the hands of US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, for which Pemberton is currently facing a murder charge before the Olongapo City prosecutor's office;

According to the joint resolution, the said incidents clearly violate the Constitution and Philippine criminal laws; trample on Philippine sovereignty; and infringe on local and international laws pertaining to the protection of the environment. The cases show that the VFA is used to shield transgressions made by US military on Philippine soil, seriously infringing on the country's ability to prosecute these criminal acts.

On the claim that the country needs the VFA against China, Santiago said, "The VFA does not imply that the U.S. will come to our aid, in case of a firefight with China over the West Philippine Sea. On the contrary, in 2013, then U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that the U.S. would be neutral."