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By APD writer Melo M. Acuña
**MANILA, Feb. 12 (APD) ** – U. S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said they just received the notification from the Philippine government last night and they still have to look into “policy angles, the military angles” and would listen to his military commanders.
Speaking to newsmen on board a flight to Brussels to confer with NATO officials, Secretary Esper said in his view “it’s unfortunate that they (the Philippines) would make this move.”
He added he had good meetings with the Department of National Defense officials in Manila last November, including his counterpart Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana whom he described as “a very interlocutor on these matters.”
He explained it was a move in the wrong direction as countries in the region called on China to “obey the international rules of order.”
He said they try to bolster their presence and compete with them (the Chinese) in this era of great power competition.
“I think it’s a move in the wrong direction for the longstanding relationship we’ve had with the Philippines for their strategic location, the ties between our peoples, our countries.”
As the United States received the notification last night, “we’ve got to read it, digest it,” he added as the agreement gives one hundred eighty days as he underscored the need to work through it.
Meanwhile, over at Malacanang Palace, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Salvador S. Panelo said he at the Duterte administration expect such a reaction from the United States of America after Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the withdrawal of the Philippines from the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with their country as “a move in the wrong direction.”
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Secretary Panelo said such a commentary is “expected given that the VFA favors the US and its abrogation affects its global strategic defensive positioning.”
He insisted the decision to terminate the VFA “is a move in the right direction that should have been done a long time ago.”
Secretary Panelo said it is time for the Philippines to strengthen its defense capabilities as “reliance on another country for our own defenses against the enemies of the state will ultimately weaken and stagnate our defense mechanisms.”
“It is about time that we strengthen our defense capabilities. Reliance on another country for our own defenses against the enemies of the state will ultimately weaken and stagnate our defense mechanisms,” he said as he explained it is time to put a stop to being a parasite to another country in protecting the independence and sovereignty.
The presidential spokesman said the government’s action “is consistent and pursuant to our chartering an independent foreign policy, with our foreign relations anchored solely on national interest and the general welfare of our people.”
Quoting President Duterte, Panelo said, “We are friends to all, enemies to none.”
“Should any country, however, threaten our territorial integrity and assault our sovereignty, we will rise by our own resources and valiantly defend our motherland the way our forefathers did during their time,” Panelo concluded.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
