Gabriela Solon Welcomes Senate Move Calling for US-RP VFA Termination

Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Womens Party Representative Liza Maza today lauded the move of Sen.Francisco Pangilinan as he filed Senate Resolution No. 892 calling for the termination of the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement on the grounds that its provisions are "contrary to the 1987 Philippine Constitution."

“We welcome this development as a timely response to the mounting calls to scrap the 1999 VFA as its indubitably onerous provisions denigrate Philippine sovereignty and pave the way for permanent presence and basing of US troops in the country. The Filipino people will always remember the nationalist stance of the Magnificent 12 senators who voted to oust the US bases in 1991 to abrogate the VFA and the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951,” Maza said.

The Gabriela Women’s Party along with Bayan Muna and Anakpawis has long called for the abrogation of VFA between the Philippines and the United States.

Last year, Maza and Ilagan have filed House Resolution No. 417 directing the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to investigate the apparent blatant disregard of our Philippine sovereignty and Constitution when American soldiers who are in the country through the RP-US VFA reportedly ordered the closure of Panamao District Hospital in Sulu and recommend measures towards the termination of the VFA in the light of the said incident and other violations of human rights committed against the Filipino people and the Philippine Constitution by the U.S military forces.

The Gabriela Solons have also filed House Resolution No.458 calling for the abrogation of the RP-US VFA that violated Article XVIII, Section 25 of the 1987 Constitution that prohibits permanent presence and basing of US troops in the country.