Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is “terminating” the Visiting Forces Agreement, which provides legal immunity to US military drills, in retaliation for the US canceling the visa of a political ally and fellow drug-warrior.
“The president said he is terminating the VFA,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told ABS-CBN News on Friday. “I asked for clarification and he said he is not changing his decision.” The agreement provides legal immunity for US soldiers conducting military exercises in the Philippines.
Enraged by the US decision to cancel the visa of former police chief and Senator Roland dela Rosa last month, Duterte had given Washington a month to fix its ‘mistake,’ refusing to back down even as other members of his government urged him to reconsider.
“I’m warning you… if you won’t do the correction on this, I will terminate the… Visiting Forces Agreement,” Duterte said last month, daring the US to call his bluff.
I’ll end that son of a b*tch.
Washington had reportedly canceled dela Rosa’s visa over his record of extrajudicial killings while serving as Duterte's first police chief. In that role, he was responsible for carrying out the president's heavy-handed anti-drug campaign – much closer to a literal “war on drugs” than the US policy by that name – which has left thousands dead and sparked international outcry.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin attempted to argue against cutting off the VFA on Thursday, insisting that the $550 million-plus in security aid received from the US since 2016 – along with intelligence, training, and the ability to deter Chinese “aggression” – outweighed any reasons the president might have to scrap the agreement. A “chilling effect on our economic relations” could result if the Philippines starts backing out of its alliance with the US, Locsin suggested.
FILE PHOTO: US military forces prepare for the annual Philippines-US live fire amphibious landing exercise (PHIBLEX) near Manila. © Reuters / Romeo Ranoco
He also warned that the US might seek to curtail other military agreements between the two countries, which currently include an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and a Mutual Defense Treaty. Trashing the VFA would affect over 300 joint training operations and other drills conducted with the US, which Locsin insisted were vital to Philippine law enforcement and military being able to counter “threats to national security.”
The hypocrisy inherent in drone-happy Washington once again criticizing Duterte’s government for extrajudicial killings – as the State Department did in a 2018 Report on Human Rights Practices – could have pushed Duterte to make the move against his advisors’ counsel. He reacted in a similarly intractable manner when threatened with a ban on entry into the US for Philippine senators involved in the detention of an opposition lawmaker opposed to his drug war.
Duterte has also expressed interest in moving away from dependence on the US toward alliance with rising superpowers, accusing Washington of “living off the fat of our land.”
A while ago President Duterte told the Chinese President Xi that he's switching alliance from the US camp to the China - in Russia camp, he should have followed his words that time despite the immense pressure from some narrow-minded politicians there. The half a billion dollars of whatever aid the US is paying the Philippines to literally occupy the country is the price of one painting somebody paid for.
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dutuerte is one of the bitches... philipines, like usa china or russia, is not a real democracy
not good to assume he represents their opinion... esp fishermen (following drug addicts) get analed by dutuerte for his pro china approach to things
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Not all countries need to be enslaved by the fake illusion of having a democracy ruled by banksters and outcomes decided by the same evil-doing crooks with money while the Sheeple think they are placing their representatives to serve them.
Which western country has real democracy where it produces politicians serving their people and not the banksters?
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which country has a news network that is 100% accurate and informs the voter correctly, or has an entire nation of well informed people who know where to get accurate news? can such country exist? maybe if non-algorythmic social media like steem becomes more popular...
also the human attention is limited, and news stories are in a constant fight for attention against each other, which causes old situations like syria or persecution of falun gong to be not in the proximity of the average joes understanding. the world has an overwhelming amount of problems that still need solving, but atleast over all things are improving.
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