VFA sa Japan at Pilipinas wala pang pormal na pag-uusap
Haneda, Tokyo—Wala pang formal proposal para sa ikinakasang Reciprocal Access Agreement sa pagitan ng Japan at Pilipinas.
Pahayag ito ni Pangulong Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. sa hirit ni Senate President Miguel Zubiri na magkaroon ng sariling visiting forces agreement ang Pilipinas at Japan.
Sa panayam ng Philippine Media Delegation habang sakay ng PR 001 patungo ng Japan, sinabi ng Pangulo na wala pang pormal na usapan ukol dito.
Hindi rin matiyak ng Pangulo kung mapag-uusapan nila ni Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ang pagkakaroon ng sariling kasunduan.
Nais kasi ng Japan na pondohan ang Subic Bay Support Base ng Philippine Coast Guard para magkaroon ng base sa Subic, Zambales.
Ayon sa Pangulo, sa ngayon, matagal nang sinusuportahan ng Japan ang Pilipinas sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng coast guard vessels.
“That kind of cooperation has been ongoing, siguro sa kanilang palagay, the next step is to do improvements, rehabilitations sa Subic para nga sa Coast Guard. Naturally, the reason behind this is to have more patrols along up and down in the South China Sea para naman we can assure the freedom of passage. So, the VFA equivalent hindi pa naming napag-uusapan iyan. I don’t know if the Prime Minister will take it up with me in this trip but so far, there has been no formal proposal,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
“I am sure Japan wants to develop more and make even more robust, closer our relationship especially in that regard.But that is a new area, because ang dealings natin sa Japan have always been on a government to government JAICA aid grant level and of course on the commercial side. So, this is a new element to our relationship because we are now talking about security of the region. So, being of course all interested in the same thing like security on the region, I guess cooperation is not a bad thing,” pahayag ni Pangulong Marcos.
Nasa Japan si Pangulong Marcos Marcos para sa limang araw na working visit.
Mananatili ang Pangulo sa Japan mula Pebrero 8 hanggang 12.
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