MANILA, Philippines – The U.S. government’s military assistance to Philippine government troops fighting terrorists in Marawi doesn’t need President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval because the two countries have existing mutual defense pacts, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.
Cayetano cited the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) as among the military pacts between the two countries.
The DFA chief made the remark after Duterte said that he was not aware that U.S. forces had joined the war in Marawi to help defeat Islamist militants led by the Maute Group.
EDCA, VFA, Mutual Defense Treaty
Last year, the Supreme Court upheld EDCA’s legality in implementing existing treaties between the Philippines and the US.
Among EDCA’s goals are to promote the following between the Philippines and the United States: interoperability; capacity-building towards the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; strengthening AFP for external defense; maritime security; maritime domain awareness; and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
Under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, the Philippines and the U.S. agree to come to each other’s defense in cases of armed attacks.
Article II of the treaty states that, “The parties separately and jointly by self-help and mutual aid will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.”
This includes attacks on the “metropolitan territory of either of the parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean, its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.”
The VFA, ratified by the Philippine Senate in 1999, paved the way for the resumption of joint military exercises between the two countries and enhanced defense cooperation, eight years since the Senate thumbed down in 1991 the extension of the U.S.-Philippine Military Bases Agreement.
The VFA, whose constitutionality was upheld by the high court in 2010, allows the two countries to conduct activities such as joint military exercises, training and planning activities; subject matter experts exchange (formal or informal classroom-type exchanges); civil military operations conducted with units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; humanitarian missions such as relief efforts in times of natural disasters and US ship visits to the Philippines for repairs, refueling and replenishment of supplies as well as rest and recreation of the crew.
US to continue supporting AFP
On Monday, June 12, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said the United States would “continue our support and cooperation with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
“I don’t think it would be appropriate to go into technical details of what we’re providing but I do think it’s important to note that this cooperation has continued,” said Kim.
“All I can say is that this is a cooperation that has continued for some time now. It’s a cooperation that’s appreciated by the Philippines’ military. It’s a cooperation that has continued with the knowledge of the Philippines’ government,” he added.
Probe American forces’ participation in Marawi ops
But not all Filipinos welcome the U.S. forces’ assistance to AFP troops fighting rebels in Marawi.
Among them are members of the left-leaning Bayan Muna party-list group, who on Tuesday, June 13, filed House Resolution 1075 directing the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on National Defense to conduct an inquiry into the supposed participation of American forces in the local military operations in the Lanao del Sur capital.
Bayan Muna Rep. Isagani Rep. Isagani Zarate stated in his resolution that, “Congress should dig deeper into the role of the United States government and the Central Intelligence Agency in the reported activities and merger of their alleged covertly-created terror groups, the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups, particularly its link to the US-supported Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which undermine regimes like the Duterte administration, for the geopolitical and economic interests of the American government.”
“It is very alarming that the commander in chief (Duterte) himself does not know that his military and security officials like Department of National Defense, Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and AFP chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Ano have already asked assistance from a country that he has continually hit as a hypocrite and is only looking out for its own self-interest,” added Zarate.
According to the lawmaker, “There were several incidents that showed US troops were already involved in overt and covert operations in Mindanao, from the 2002 Buyong-buyong Isnijal shooting, to the Michael Meiring incident in Davao City and even in the 2015 bungled Mamasapano operations.”
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