Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno said yesterday the Supreme
Court (SC) will conduct oral arguments on three petitions that
challenged the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States
governments.
Earlier, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay had sought the dismissal of
the petitions against EDCA as he insisted that the agreement is
constitutional as it is necessary for the country’s internal and
external security.
Because of the EDCA cases with the SC, Sereno refused to answer
questions involving the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), specifically on
the custody of a member of the United States Marines who is the suspect
in the killing of a transgender identified as Jennifer Laude.
“I cannot say what the VFA says on the issue of custody because it is
part of the pending cases. It will be debated very soon,” Sereno said
during a forum of Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines
(FOCAP) at the Marco Polo Hotel in Pasig City yesterday.
“Even without the recent incident involving the transgender woman, we are already scrutinizing the EDCA,” she said.
In his consolidated comment, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said
President Aquino allowed EDCA in his duty to protect the Philippines as
its commander-in-chief, chief executive, and chief architect of foreign
policy as provided for under Section 4, Article II of the Constitution.
Hilbay said EDCA is necessary for the country’s internal and external
security considering the “international platform of politics” as well
as “recent events within Philippine territory.”
Thus, he said, EDCA is one of the security measures needed “to
achieve a minimum credible defense to the manifold security concerns in
the West Philippine Sea.”
At least three petitions have been filed challenging the
constitutionality of EDCA that was signed between the Philippines and
the US governments on April 28, 2014.
The SC had required several government officials to comment on the
petitions and decided to tackle the plea for a temporary restraining
order (TRO) once the comments are filed.
Required to file their comments were Executive Secretary Paquito
Ochoa Jr., Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Foreign Affairs Secretary
Albert Del Rosario, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, and Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Emmanuel Bautista, Defense
Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Ambassadors Eduardo Malaya and
Lourdes Yparraguirre, Defense Assistant Secretary for Strategic
Assessment Raymund Jose Quilup, and Justice Undersecretary Francisco
Baraan III.
The SC acted on the petitions filed separately by the group of former
Senators Rene A.V. Saguisag and Wigberto E. Tanada, and those led by
the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.
