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MANILA: An “improved” and “strengthened” major security pact that allows military training between Filipino and American troops in the Philippines is awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte’s (pic) approval more than a year after he ordered its termination, Manila’s envoy to Washington said.

Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez said Duterte is expected to decide anytime on whether to renew or not the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) following weeks of negotiations between the Philippines and the US.

“I know there has been improvement, a lot of time spent by both our countries, our panels on some of the things they want to improve in that agreement. It’s now in the Office of the President and I expect it to come out anytime now,” Romualdez told a joint virtual press briefing with the US Embassy in Manila.

Romualdez said he is “very confident” that the President will decide to continue the implementation of the VFA since it is an “important piece of agreement” that is “part of the Philippines’ bigger picture of relations and Mutual Defense Treaty with the US.”

“We are very confident that it will go through,” he said.

In a most serious threat to Manila’s 69-year-old alliance with Washington, Duterte last year ordered the abrogation of the VFA after the US, a long-time Philippine defense and treaty ally, revoked the visa of his close ally and former national police chief now senator Ronald Dela Rosa.

US officials did not cite a specific reason why Dela Rosa’s visa was cancelled, but many speculated it was due to his involvement in Duterte’s violent war on drugs.

Manila sent an official letter of termination of the VFA to the US on Feb. 11, 2020.

Then in November 2020, Duterte suspended the abrogation of the agreement amid lingering tensions with China in the disputed South China Sea.

Duterte, a vocal critic of the US, has cultivated closer ties with China and Russia while often criticizing US policies and lambasting American criticisms of his administration’s anti-drugs crackdown.

The VFA is an implementation of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty forged by the US and the Philippines as security partners after World War II. It is a framework agreement that covers the treatment and presence of American forces in the country with or without war games.

US Embassy Chargè d’Affaires John Law said there were very specific proposal on how to clarify and strengthen the VFA’s implementation that were discussed by both sides.

“Over series of weeks we had very productive, very good conversations between representatives from both governments,” he said.

Duterte’s decision to abrogate the VFA came at a time when the country is grappling with its territorial conflict with China in the South China Sea, where the US Navy regularly conducts freedom of navigation patrols to ensure unfettered access to the resource-rich waters.

The VFA also made it possible for the US military to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines in combating extremist groups by providing technical assistance and enemy surveillance to Filipino troops battling the militants.

Law said the VFA is a fundamental part of helping make the MDT successful.

“We are committed to the success of our alliance worth the Philippines and that commitment is going to remain strong,” he said.