BY JP LOPEZ

SEN. Francis Pangilinan yesterday said he is open to a "new and improved" version of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) but the bilateral treaty must first be terminated.

"The current version of the VFA is very one-sided because it is enforceable in the Philippines but not in the US," he pointed out.

"The Philippine Senate has ratified the treaty but the US Senate has not. We should not accept such an arrangement," he said.

Pangilinan last month filed Resolution 892 calling for the termination of the VFA after authorities dilly-dallied on implementing the Supreme Court decision last February 11 ordering the transfer of Subic rapist Daniel Smith from the US Embassy to a Philippine jail.

Pangilinan cited the RP-Australia Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) as a possible benchmark for a revised agreement with the US.

SOVFA aims to "promote common security interests and enhance defense capabilities" between the Philippines and Australia.

Under SOVFA, "the Authorities of the Receiving State shall have jurisdiction over the members of the Visiting Force and its Civilian Component with respect to offences committed within the territory of the Receiving State and punishable by the law of the Receiving State."

Moreover, the agreement states: "The Authorities of the Receiving State shall have the right to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over members of the Visiting Force and its Civilian Component…"

If applied to the case of Smith, the SOFVA would have him prosecuted and punished according to Philippine criminal laws. This would include involuntary detention in local own penal facilities, such as the New Bilibid Prison.

"Malacañang itself admits that it has learned its lessons from the VFA experience and has applied these to the crafting of the SOFVA," Pangilinan said. "This is a golden opportunity for us to reshape our foreign policy and uphold our sovereign rights."

Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri urged groups and individuals calling for the repeal of the VFA to weigh the pros and cons.

"We have an ongoing peace and order conflict in the extreme south of Mindanao where American troops down there in the terrain help our soldiers spot the ICRC kidnap victims," Zubiri said.

He called on critics of the RP-US joint military and training exercises to instead go to the Senate and participate in the debates and committee deliberations and see from the debates whether the Philippines could stand by itself without help from the US.

Zubiri identified three scenarios if US government would pull out its military personnel.

These are the immediate halt of training exercises; drastic drop in donations or grants of ammunitions, armaments, planes and military equipment; and the probable delisting of the Most-Favored-Nation status of the Philippines and downgrading of the trading partnership between the US and the Philippines.