Philippine leader faces challenge over exiting US pact

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Several senators have launched a legal challenge against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to scrap a defense agreement with the United States.

According to local news outlet Rappler, the senators have filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that Duterte must seek the Senate’s nod before terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with Washington.

However, Duterte remained defiant and said he would not succumb to pressure to revive the deal.

“They cannot compel me. I refuse to be compelled,” he said at a news conference late on Monday night.

He said he was waiting to see the deal dead. “I am not reneging on the VFA and I am not going to America to discuss this with anybody," said Duterte.

Last month, Philippines terminated the VFA that allows American military planes and vessels free entry into the country.

Ratified in 1999, the VFA also exempts U.S. military personnel from passport and visa regulations when they come for joint exercises and trainings.

However, the senators have been irked by Duterte’s authoritarian approach and have asked the Supreme Court to “uphold the role of the senate in terminating or withdrawing from treaties with the United States and other countries".

The move marked the first time that senators have challenged a policy of the Duterte administration in the country’s top court.

The agreement would end 180 days after the U.S. government was notified by the Philippines on Feb. 11.

Duterte scrapped the VFA after the U.S. cancelled the visa of his first police chief and close ally, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, who is known as the architect of the Philippines’ bloody war on drugs.