No vaccine, no visiting force agreement

[Mike J]

President Duterte is playing some serious hardball with the US.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/192867/duterte-to-us-no-vaccine-no-vfa

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte put the United States government on notice on Saturday that he would continue with the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) if it could not provide the Philippines with its COVID-19 vaccines.

In a meeting with Cabinet members and infectious disease experts in Malacañang, Duterte demanded at least 20 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from the US to stop the termination of the VFA.

“Iyong Visiting Forces Agreement, matatapos na. Ngayon kapag hindi ako pumayag aalis talaga sila. Kung hindi sila makadeliver ng maski minimum of mga 20 million (doses) of vaccines, ah they better get out,” Duterte said.

(The Visiting Forces Agreement will expire…If they can’t deliver at least a minimum of about 20 million (doses) of vaccines, they better get out.)

“No vaccine, no stay here,” he added.

Duterte ordered the termination of the VFA last February in response to the revocation of the US visa of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, his former police chief who led his brutal war on drugs.

READ: Postponement of VFA abrogation unchanged even with Bato’s fixed US visa – Palace
In June, the Philippines backtracked from the termination that was supposed to take effect in August due to “political and other developments in the region.” The suspension “shall continue for 6 months.”

Last month, the Philippine government suspended the effectivity of the VFA termination but negotiations continue for a long-term arrangement.

The VFA, signed in 1998, accorded legal status to US troops who were rotated in the country for military exercises and humanitarian assistance operations.

 

[scott h]

LOLOL yeah saw that to and also started a topic Mike,,,,if he had an inferiority complex before,,,just wait til the US tells him to pound sand 

[Old55]

President Xi and the ccp have played that moron from the very beginning. I feel bad for the Filipino people it's not fair they suffer for their chosen leaders bad decisions. 

 

[scott h]

1 minute ago, Old55 said:

very beginning.

And if I read the news right the china vaccine is very expensive 

[Old55]

1 minute ago, scott h said:

And if I read the news right the china vaccine is very expensive 

Wait a minute Scott, ccp Dictator for life Xi and Duterte are best friends how can that be? The ccp is sticking it to Duterte because he's no longer any use to them. 

[Snowy79]

Sadly politics is a big con run by the businesses that can financialy benefit politicians and their parties. Even the VFA I'm sure benefits the arms companies.  I think the US has given the Philippines over $588m in military aid in the last 3yrs. Throw in the money call centres etc make the US and I'm sure the vaccine will appear once the companies that benefit have words in their friendly politician's ears.   

[Old55]

6 minutes ago, Snowy79 said:

Sadly politics is a big con run by the businesses that can financialy benefit politicians and their parties. Even the VFA I'm sure benefits the arms companies.  I think the US has given the Philippines over $588m in military aid in the last 3yrs. Throw in the money call centres etc make the US and I'm sure the vaccine will appear once the companies that benefit have words in their friendly politician's ears.   

Philippines was already in line for a large order of vaccine allotted to them earlier this year but failed to approve it (Pay for it) and they lost their allotment. 

Snowy, do you have any links to the military aid numbers? I'm not doubting you at all just curious what exactly what items and cash were given. We know where the cash went! 

[Old55]

Here's another on Duterte's rambling anti American speech; 

 

Duterte dangles VFA for US-made vaccine: 'No vaccine, get out'

DEC 26, 2020 11:28 PM PHT

LIAN BUAN

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte dangled the precarious Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the Americans and threatened the United States that if they fail to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the country, US soldiers would be booted out.

"Kung hindi sila maka-deliver ng maski (If they fail to deliver at least) a minimum of 20 million vaccines, they better get out, no vaccine, no stay here," Duterte said in a speech on Saturday, December 26, which received soft applause from the room full of Cabinet secretaries.

In his usual off-script speech, Duterte was talking about how procuring vaccines was the sole accountability of his vaccine czar, retired general Carlito Galvez Jr, when he somehow got around to railing against the Americans.

"Do not believe in that shit America delivering kaagad, hindi nga niya ma-deliver sa kanilang lugar, dito pa? Itong Amerikano talaga. I've been in government, I've dealt with them many times, and that's why naging cynic na ako sa kanila," said Duterte.

(Do not believe in that shit about America being able to deliver vaccines immediately when they can't even deliver it to their own country. These Americans. I've been in government, I've dealt with them many times, and that's why I've become a cynic when it comes to them.)

"If America wants to help – deliver. Stop talking. What we need is the vaccine, not your verbose speeches," Duterte added.

Duterte had scrapped the VFA only to suspend the termination last June and put the decades-long military agreement back in effect, but only for an initial period of 6 months, which ends December this year. 

On Saturday, Duterte mentioned the VFA and said, "'Yung Visiting Forces Agreement, matatapos na. Ngayon, kapag hindi ako pumayag, aalis talaga sila." (The Visiting Forces Agreement is about to end. So if I don't allow it, they would really have to go.)

The VFA, signed in 1999, allowed the presence of US military forces in the country, but only in a visiting capacity. The Aquino-time EDCA or Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement was a further operational feature of the VFA, providing for increased military presence here. 

Duterte's change of mind, from the initial outburst of unilaterally scrapping VFA to putting it back up in the air for 6 months, was due to the rising tensions in the South China Sea, according to Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez had said that American pharmaceutical company Pfizer will ensure supplyfor the Philippines of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The United States has already started distributing the Pfizer vaccine to people on the priority list: high-risk healthcare workers and high-level government officials, including President-elect Joe Biden.

"They are put on notice that if they can't produce the vaccine, 20 million at least, immediately..." Duterte began to say. 

"You choose Pfizer, Pfizer is up to its neck producing it for everybody, and then you promise so many countries of your vaccine, so ulitin ko (I repeat)," he added, before radically shifting to another topic, which involved a huge chunk on ranting against communists. – Rappler.com

 

https://www.rappler.com/nation/duterte-dangles-vfa-us-made-vaccine-december-2020

[Snowy79]

1 hour ago, Old55 said:

Philippines was already in line for a large order of vaccine allotted to them earlier this year but failed to approve it (Pay for it) and they lost their allotment. 

Snowy, do you have any links to the military aid numbers? I'm not doubting you at all just curious what exactly what items and cash were given. We know where the cash went! 

A quick Google will give you details.  I don't want to link to another forum but here's the words I used : how much military aid has the US given the philippines?

[Mike J]

4 hours ago, scott h said:

LOLOL yeah saw that to and also started a topic Mike,,,,if he had an inferiority complex before,,,just wait til the US tells him to pound sand 

Maybe we will see two presidents seeing who can pee highest on the pole, or maybe even a "weaner waving contest".