Target: 20M signatures; CBCP starts 50-day protest against VFA

Philippine Daily Inquirer, [c. 26 July 1998]

The signature campaign is spearheaded by the CBCP's National Secretariat of Social Action, Justice and Peace.

Sr. Rosanne Mallillin, NASSA executive secretary, said the anti-VFA campaign would kick off today to coincide with the opening of Congress at the Batasan in Quezon City, where President Estrada would deliver his State-of-the-Nation address.

Msgr. Hernando Coronel, CBCP spokesperson, said a nationally-coordinated protest would be launched by all archdioceses, including the reading of anti-VFA statements during or after the Masses.

A four-page pastoral statement issued by the CBCP against the VFA would also be read in all parishes.

The CBCP is composed of 90 Catholic bishops nationwide.

We know that President Estrada is pushing for the ratification of the VFA but we would like him and the rest of the lawmakers to know that the people are rejecting it, Coronel said.

We hope the President will heed the public clamor to junk the VFA, which the bishops believe, is one-sided as it was made between a master and a lackey, Coronel stressed.

Mallillin said all parishioners would be asked to affix their signatures in the anti-VFA campaign sheet that would be circulated for 50 days or until Oct. 14, when the treaty is expected to be ratified.

The 20 million signatures, she said, would be presented to the Senate on Sept. 16, when the country will commemorate the seventh anniversary of the rejection of the United States Military Bases Agreement.

Mallillin warned that the senators, who are expected to ratify the treaty, would be watched closely by the Catholic Church.

We demand that legislators irrevocably reject the VFA or face defeat in succeeding elections, Mallillin warned.

The bishops said that the VFA, which allows the resumption of Philippine-US military exercises in the country, was lopsided in favor of the United States.

Coronel said the bishops also branded as impossible the justifications made by Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado that government troops would benefit in the agreement as they could conduct joint military exercises with American troops in the American soil.

Mallillin said the VFA gives no benefit to the Filipinos except the empty promise of regional security and allusion of economic progress.

On the contrary, she said, the agreement violates the constitutional provision on national sovereignty as mere presence of US forces would attract war or participation in war in the event of American aggression in the region.

The VFA will unwittingly lure the country to be involved in a war such as in the Gulf conflict when the former American military bases here were used as arms depot, Mallillin said.

She said there was a conspiracy of silence about the VFA when it comes to weapons of mass destruction.

While the 1987 Constitution clearly bans nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, the VFA does not explicitly uphold this prohibition, she said.

The VFA stipulates that Philippine authorities cannot inspect US vessels and aircraft. It also provides for their unhampered movement within the Philippine territory.

This way, we could be plunged inadvertently into the arms race, Mallillin said.

Coronel said the bishops expressed strong opposition to provisions in the VFA involving the US military authorities' right to exercise jurisdiction over its personnel, the Philippine authorities' waiver of the right to exercise jurisdiction when requested by US authorities, the non-imposition of import/export taxes, duties, charges on visiting US personnel, and their exemption from passport and visa regulations.

The exemptions, Coronel said, would make US troops a special class of persons.

The bishops are alarmed at the rate the treaty negotiations had been conducted because these were made without public consultation, Coronel said. Any agreement that does not foster the common good of the Filipinos should be rejected.