Philippine Supreme Court Upholds US-Philippine Defense Cooperation Agreement

After a series of voting, the Supreme Court of the Philippines upheld the legality of the defence cooperation agreement between the Philippines and the United States which was signed last April. This was despite many concerns that the agreement was an infringement of the national sovereignity as outlined in the Constitution of the country.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported last January 12, 2016 that the Supreme Court of the Philippines, by a vote of 10-4, upheld the legality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States. This is the result of the Supreme Court's ruling that the EDCA is an Executive Agreement and not a treaty. In the Philippines, a treaty needs the concurrence of the Senate in order to be valid while an executive agreement needs only the signature of the President or his representative without need of Senate concurrence.

The EDCA is a ten-year agreement which was signed in time for the state visit of US President Barrack Obama to the Philippines last April 2015. The position of the Executive was that EDCA did not need Philippine Senate concurrence because it is merely an Executive Agreement. The Philippine Senate contested this position and passed a resolution informing the Supreme Court of its position that EDCA must be concurred in by the Philippine Senate.

The Supreme Court upheld the position of the Executive Department that the EDCA is merely an implementing agreement of existing treaties, the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty. Prominent Philippine nationalists such as former Senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tanada question the legality of the EDCA before the Supreme Court last May 2015 on the grounds that it violates the national sovereignty provision of the Philippine Constitution. According to Philippine Star, they argued that EDCA violates the constitutional provision that bans foreign military bases except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Philippine Senate. 

CNN Philippines reported that a spokesperson of Philippine President Benigno Aquino welcomed the ruling saying that this will pave the way for upgrading the Philippine's national defense capability as well as its disaster response and humanitarian assistance capability.

The US Embassy in the Philippines was quoted as saying that EDCA is a mutually beneficial agreement. EDCA oppositors,  however, lamented that decision and said that they will file a Motion for Reconsideration.

Tags

Philippines, Supreme Court of the Philippines, Philippine Law, Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, EDCA, Philippine Constitution, executive agreement

© 2023 Lawyer Herald All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.