Will the US defend us against China?
By: Joel Ruiz Butuyan
@inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:08 AM January 18th, 2016
NOW THAT the Supreme Court has upheld the validity of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca), will the United States defend the Philippines if the islands and shoals the Philippines occupies in the West Philippine Sea are attacked by China?
This is the flea-market question that must have sprung in the minds of ordinary Filipinos after the high court dismissed the petitions questioning the validity of the agreement that was signed by the Philippines and the United States in 2014.
The Edca allows the stationing of more US military forces in the Philippines, which both US and Filipino authorities claim will only be on a rotational basis during military training and exercises, and disaster relief operations.
The nonrelease of the complete text of the high court’s decision as of this writing and my law firm’s role as counsel for ex-senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada in the case do not deprive me of the leeway to discuss the nonlegal issues of the Edca. Besides, the bone of contention in the high court is essentially the question of who needs to approve the agreement before it becomes valid: the President alone, as claimed by the government, or both the President and the Senate, as argued by the petitioners? The Supreme Court ruled that only the President’s approval is needed.
Since news releases about the Edca are always coupled with references to “the aggressive Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea,” it has become the sentimental expectation of many Filipinos that the Americans will help defend the Philippines if its islands and shoals in the area are attacked by China.
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