The visiting forces agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America depicts the 4th major function of diplomacy which is choosing the appropriate means to pursue objectives.
The VFA is an agreement between the Philippines and the United States of America signed on February 10, 1998 and ratified by the Senate of the Philippines in 1999. The said agreement grants American soldiers and civil employees of the US Department of Defense visiting the Philippines special rights and privileges. It could be said that the visiting forces agreement is one way of how the United States of America is practicing its soft power through the form of DIPLOMACY!
Why is there a need for the world’s super power, US to have agreement like the VFA? The US needs ports, training facilities and logistical bases for their continuing participation, occupation of and war activities on different parts of the world, especially those in the Middle East. An agreement like the VFA is needed by the US to make the Philippines a support base for US military operations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Through this scenario just like what USA did to Israel (against Lebanon) they did use Diplomacy through the Visiting forces agreement as a means of pursuing their objective which is to make the Philippines as their logistical bases against Middle East Asian Countries.
At this very moment, the Philippines is still possessing it’s diplomatic character as an underdog of influential countries just like the United States of America. It may appear that we are just allies however the truth is further beyond how it appears. We are more than an ally we are indeed slaves within our own land for we have no sovereignty in our own LAWS!
In the controversial Subic Rape Case, Where is the “spirit of the law?” Why celebrate the "quarter-victory" when the Philippine government acts as the lawyer for the Americans, cannot even demand custody and accepts the VFA as puppet's delight when Filipinos are being oppressed and trampled by US occupation troops aka "visiting forces" who raped our women and make a mockery of our laws?
Some media presents the decision as half-victory and that people are half-satisfied. The fact that only one out of four was convicted does not make it half. The half-ness even get worse as the US Embassy was again pushed to take custody of Smith in much the same manner when the US government took custody of the four rapists during trial. There were 2,000 criminal cases committed since the US Bases were established in the Philippines for the last century. Except for Smith, none was ever convicted. Looking at the big picture, any crime committed by US servicemen will never see justice so long as the Philippine government remains a puppet and tied to the military agreement that violates the Philippine Constitution, which explicitly states: “…that no foreign troops will be allowed in any part of the country for combat purposes.”
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