US Embassy welcomes extension of VFA abrogation

The Embassy of the United States in Manila welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to suspend the Visiting Forces Agreement or VFA abrogation for another six months.

“The U.S.-Philippines alliance remains vital to our robust, deep-rooted bilateral relationship. The United States will continue to partner closely with the Philippines to strengthen our mutual security ties,” the embassy said in a statement.

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On Wednesday, extended for another six months the suspension VFA termination with the United States amid the continuous tensions in the South China Sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

The President’s decision to extend the suspension of the VFA abrogation, Locsin said, will enable both sides “to find a more enhanced,  mutually beneficial, mutually agreeable, and more effective and lasting arrangement  on how to move forward  in our  mutual defense.”

“The past four years have changed the South China Sea from one of uncertainty about great powers’ intentions to one of predictability and resulting stability concerning what can and cannot be done, what will and will not be acceptable with regard to the conduct of any protagonist in the South China Sea. Clarity and strength have never posed a risk. It is confusion and indecision that aggravate risk,” Locsin said in a statement addressed to White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.

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Also said: PH expects more US COVID-19 aid after VFA abrogation suspension

US Embassy welcomes extension of VFA abrogation

“A great deal of credit for the renewal of stability and security goes to deft diplomacy, unequivocal expressions of policy, sturdy postures of strength combined with unfailing tact, and pragmatic national security advice exhibited by both our governments in the same period.”

In February, Duterte ordered the termination of VFA with the United States after Senator and former PNP Chief Bato Dela Rosa’s US visa was canceled.

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“If you do not do the correction, one, I will terminate the bases, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). I will finish that son of a bitch,” Duterte said in a wide-ranging speech before former Communist rebels. “I am giving the government and the American government one month from now.”