Monday, February 15, 2021

Duterte demands $16B for hosting US troops. Inquirer Newsletter. February 16, 2021.

PREPARING FOR LENT Rev. Roland Balase leads the burning of blessed palm fronds that will be used during the observance of Ash Wednesday at Baclaran Church in Parañaque City. The Catholic Church is reminding the faithful to follow health measures as they attend Masses marking the beginning of Lent. —RICHARD A. REYES

Regions

Former Cagayan mayor on Du30’s ‘narcolist,’ 3 others gunned down

TUGUEGARAO CITY—Two former mayors of Lasam town in Cagayan province, one of whom was on President Duterte’s list of narcopoliticians, were killed with their two companions in a daytime gun attack in the town on Monday, police said. —STORY BY Villamor Visaya Jr.

Lifestyle Wellness

What’s your vaccination priority score?

(Second of two parts) A patient told me that their barangay official advised them that their 85-year-old bedridden mother, who had already suffered two strokes, is at high risk for COVID-19 and is considered a priority for vaccination. —STORY BY Rafael R. Castillo, MD

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Duterte demands $16B for hosting US troops

By Leila B. Salaverria

In exchange for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Philippines should get something like $16 billion that Pakistan had received in counterterrorism assistance from the United States from 2001 to 2017, Malacañang said on Monday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippines received only a total of $3.9 billion from the United States in the same period.

President Duterte earlier said the US government must pay if it wanted to keep the VFA, an agreement signed in 1998 that allows American troops to come to the Philippines for joint military exercises with Filipino troops and humanitarian missions.

He ordered the abrogation of the agreement last year, but suspended the move because of the coronavirus pandemic and “heightened superpower tensions.”

Defense and foreign affairs officials have spoken against the termination of the deal, warning that the country could lose billions of dollars worth of assistance and that it could undermine Philippine defense and security arrangements.

Many critics have said the VFA, which also provides rules for the entry and departure of military personnel and supplies, is just as detrimental. For instance, it abdicates Philippine sovereignty when trying US personnel who commit crimes, they say.

Roque did not answer directly how the administration would make up for the benefits that the Philippines would lose should the VFA be terminated because Washington would not want to pay up.

“The President has been clear. He wants compensation. If the Americans don’t agree, then there is also the previous declaration of the Filipino president that he will terminate the VFA,” he said.

Extortion?

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday scored the President’s remarks demanding that the United States cough up money in exchange for the VFA. She warned that such statements could be misconstrued as extortion. --WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING AND TINA G. SANTOS INQ

Editorial

Who broke them in the first place?

The case of the two Aeta men charged under the new anti-terror law has become curiouser and curiouser after government lawyers hijacked their case at the Supreme Court. A day after Calida’s manifestation to the SC, Japer Gurung and Junior Ramos were presented in a press conference by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net