Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has fully restored the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a crucial military pact governing the presence of the United States (US) troops in the Philippines, the two countries’ defence ministries said on Friday. The decision was taken after a meeting between Duterte and the US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin III in Manila on Thursday.
“The President decided to recall or retract the termination letter for the VFA. There is no termination letter pending, and we are back on track,” Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters in a joint press conference with Austin.
Lorenzana admitted that he was unsure why Duterte reversed his earlier decision after meeting the US Defence Secretary. He said the two countries “face a range of challenges, from the climate crisis to the pandemic” and added that the Philippines-US alliance “will remain vital to the security, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.” “A fully restored VFA will help us achieve that goal together,” he concluded.
Duterte’s spokesperson, Harry Roque, also clarified the President’s position on Friday. “The President’s decision was based on upholding the Philippines’ strategic core interests...The Philippines will, however, continue to engage other countries for partnerships that work, based on our core national interests,” Roque said.
Given that the pact had not been terminated, Duterte’s decision is not likely to change the situation much on the ground; however, it does provide stability for both countries. “Let me thank President Duterte for his decision to restore the visiting forces agreement fully. It provides certainty for us in the future; we can do long-range planning and do different types of exercises,” Channel News Asia quoted Austin as saying during the joint press conference with his Philippine counterpart.
The Philippines originally announced the termination of the VFA in February last year after the US denied a visa to a Philippine senator, who is also Duterte’s ally. Since then, Manila has suspended its termination three times, most recently in June.
The VFA came into effect in 1998 and provided a framework for the rotation and legal status to thousands of US troops in the Philippines for military exercises and war drills and promises humanitarian assistance. Through the pact, the US and Philippine military forces engage in almost 300 activities annually, including the Balikatan, or shoulder-to-shoulder exercises, which involve thousands of troops in land, sea, and air drills. The drills often include live-fire exercises. The pact is the centrepiece of the bilateral relations between the two nations as several other military agreements are dependent on the VFA’s stability. The VFA has also gained additional importance since it gives the US and its allies a strategic advantage in containing China’s assertive behaviour in the region.