Sagot: Kung may mga Pilipinong umaasa o takot sa mga Kano, mayroon din namang lumalaban at patuloy na nananawagan ng pagbabasura sa mga maka-isang panig na tratado tulad ng Visiting Forces Agreement at Mutual Defense Treaty. Kung susuriin natin ang ating kasaysayan, kapansin-pansin ang paglaban ng masa sa dayuhang pananakop bagama’t ang mga nasa kapangyarihan ay piniling magpaalipin kapalit ng ilang ganansiya.

Napakaganda sa sinabi mo, “Special relations have no place in a country that claims to be independent.” Special relations encouraged preferential treatment and we know today that we put our women like Nicole in harm’s way and greatly compromised our justice system (to put Americans in jail). It is so sad to look back how then DFA Secretary Siazon urged for the signing of VFA for such flimsy reason of modernizing our military and the military aid. To-date, the Filipinos did not benefit from either the military aid nor our needed military equipment (still junks) to protect our huge seawater and fishing territory.

The VFA is anchored on Mutual Defense treaty and yet US recognized China’s claim on Kalayaan reefs instead of supporting Philippine position. It is so ironic.

You have to wonder how creative are the Americans to pin down detention of Filipinos by US authorities under VFA2 on the reason that Federal cannot alter power expressly granted to the States under US Constitution. And yet we are so damned in our nuclear free Constitutional provision in regards to VFA1.

May kasabihan, “We are cooked in our own lard.”

Sana nakinig ang ating pamahalaan sa mga sa mga ulat na ginawa ng sariling mamamayan na katulad mo sa IBON Foundation labing isang taon na nakalipas. Sana matutunan ng pamahalaan sa kasulukuyan na kailangan gawin tama ang anumang pagkakamali noon.

More power to you!

Reply: Thank you for your insightful comment. It was only in 1991 that the Senate rejected the extension of the 1946 Military Bases Agreement (MBA). Let’s hope that the abrogation of both the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) does not take that long. Then again…