HOUSE leaders have welcomed President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte’s decision to extend the suspension of the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States (US) for another six months.

Deputy Speaker and 1-Pacman party-list Rep. Mikee Romero and Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon said the action of the Chief Executive will create space for PH-US talks on better arrangement of their military cooperation.

“I welcome the extension of the VFA and I see this move as a way to create the space and conditions for bilateral talks on possibly a better arrangement and terms agreeable to both sides,” Romero, president of the 54-strong Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc. (PCFI), said.

Romero said the decision “could then be followed by the final better agreement or terms.”

“Bilateral talks take time and effort. This is good for agreements that a well-thought out. The breathing space the extension creates could allow, for example, the initial framework or guiding parameters for the better arrangement,” Romero said.

Biazon said the move of President Duterte was a prudent decision on his part, which will give a chance for the PH-US security partnership to continue and hopefully improve.

“This is significant in the light of the issues in the South Sea/West Philippine Sea involving Philippine interests. The US is expected to actively move in the region due to their Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy in the years to come, so our engagement with them has strategic importance,” Biazon said.

But House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said “the six month extension of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) may be a means for President Duterte to appease the United States government and court its favor behind his selected succesor in the 2022 elections.”

“Another extension is not surprising; it emanates straight from the Janus-faced foreign policy playbook of the Duterte administration in the run up to the next elections. While it continues to pursue a vassal-like relations with China, it nonetheless continue to maintain its policy of appeasement with the US. This is not an independent foreign policy as our Constitution mandates,” Zarate said.

“In the end, there will be no abrogation. This will just become another jetskied Duterte bragaddocio and our foreign policy is further from being independent when his term started,” Zarate said.

Romero said “the extension can also lead to other opportunities for security arrangements and mechanisms to ensure freedom of navigation, free flow of global commerce and travel, and enforce international law in this part of the world.”

“For example for the long term, it might also be timely to study the feasibility of establishing a peacekeeping treaty alliance of countries in the Western Pacific. Unlike the 1950s’ short-lived SEATO or South East Asian Treaty Organization, which was a military alliance, the Western Pacific Peacekeeping (WestPac Alliance) I am suggesting would be a multinational organization against marine life poachers, pirates, hijackers, illegal fishing, and with a special mission in international waters and international airspace to protect marine habitats, the unimpeded migration of marine and bird life, and deep sea exploration expeditions, as well as the conduct of mishap investigations and rescue operations at sea and in the air,” Romero said.

“There are no maritime and environment law enforcement mechanisms and measures in international waters and international airspace in our part of the world. The WestPac Alliance could address the huge gap beyond the territorial waters and EEZ. There is a need for an international organization like the WestPac Alliance,” he said.

“I am hoping the governments in East Asia, the Pacific Island Nations, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia will see this idea worth further study at least. Perhaps United Nations agencies like the International Maritime Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, International Civil Aviation Organization, and International Telecommunications Union will also consider it worth their effort to analyze,” Romero said.