President Rodrigo Duterte changed his mind about scrapping the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States due to the rising tensions in the South China Sea amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr. said.
In an interview over ANC’s “Headstart” Monday (June 22), Locsin denied he and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana convinced Duterte to suspend the VFA’s termination.
Locsin and Lorenzana both pushed for a review of the deal with the US instead of ending it.
“Secretary Lorenzana and I were not (driving forces). I think in this situation where he saw that the tensions in the South China Sea were getting in the way of a united response to the COVID… having a rise in military tensions in the South China Sea was not helping anybody,” Locsin said.
“He just called us and said ‘That’s it, suspend it,’” he added.
Duterte ordered the termination of VFA in January this year after the US cancelled the visa of his close ally, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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