Bukas si Pangulong Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. na magkaroon ng Visiting Forces Agreement ang Pilipinas at Japan gaya ng kasunduan ngayon sa Amerika.
Sa panayam ng Philippine Media Delegation kay Pangulong Marcos habang pauwi sa Pilipinas mula sa Japan, sinabi nito na dapat na tiyakin na ang buuing VFA sa Japan ay hindi maging provocative sa tensyon sa China.
“I think in general if it will be of help to the Philippines in terms of protecting, for example our fishermen, protecting our maritime territory, if it’s going to help, then that – if the results of our own study, siyempre pag-aaralan pa natin ‘yan eh kung talagang makakatulong. If kung talagang makakatulong, I don’t see why we should not adopt it,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
Nangangamba ang Pangulo na sa halip kasi na kumalma ang sitwasyon ay lalo pa itong lumala.
“Now there is also the – we have to be careful also because we do not want to appear provocative. Parang imbes na pinapakalma natin ang sitwasyon sa South China Sea ay ginagawa natin mas magiging mainit ‘di ba. That’s not what we want,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
“Ang iniisip ko lang ay ‘yung ating mga fishermen kailangan maprotektahan, kailangan maliwanag na tayo sa Pilipinas talagang we are patrolling our waters and making sure that it is well-recognized na ‘yan ang talagang territory talaga ng – maritime territory talaga ng Pilipinas ‘yan,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
“That’s the intent. As long as we – if we can achieve that, if it is appropriate, if it does not constitute the danger of increasing tensions, then it might be useful for the Philippines,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
Ayon sa Pangulo, napag-usapan nila ni Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sa bilateral meeting ang VFA.
“Very briefly dahil binanggit lang niya sinagot there is a – that it’s all under study. And siguro naman I don’t – it depends really on the Philippines if we want to go and accelerate the joint – what we have already. Mayroon tayong agreement diyan. That’s why we have exercises together. Binigyan tayo ng barko ng Chinese – ah ng Japanese sorry. Binigyan tayo ng barko ng Japanese para sa Coast Guard para tulungan din ‘yung ating pagbantay,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
Ayon sa Pangulo, sa panukala ng Japan, nais nilang magkaroon ng improvement sa seguridad sa Subic, Zambalaes pati na sa Philippine Coast Guard para mapaganda ang pagbabantay sa mga bases.
“But the problem is that again it cannot be considered as you will know a foreign base. So we will still have to finalize the details on that on how they want to do it. And kung agreeable tayo, ‘di ‘yun ang gugustuhin natin,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
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