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    Bayan Vs Zamorag.R. No. 138570, Oct. 10, 2000

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    missyali
    The document discusses the Bayan vs Zamora case, which centered around the constitutionality of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) entered between the Philippines and United States. It provides background on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the countries and negotiations in the late 1990s that led to the signing of the VFA in 1998. The VFA went into effect in 1999 after ratification by the Philippine Senate. Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of the VFA, but the Supreme Court ultimately upheld it, finding it was duly ratified by the Senate and that the US could treat it as an executive agreement under international law.

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    Bayan Vs Zamorag.R. No. 138570, Oct. 10, 2000

    Uploaded by

    missyali
    23 views2 pages
    The document discusses the Bayan vs Zamora case, which centered around the constitutionality of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) entered between the Philippines and United States. It provides background on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the countries and negotiations in the late 1990s that led to the signing of the VFA in 1998. The VFA went into effect in 1999 after ratification by the Philippine Senate. Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of the VFA, but the Supreme Court ultimately upheld it, finding it was duly ratified by the Senate and that the US could treat it as an executive agreement under international law.

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    case digest

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    Bayan vs Zamora
G

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    The document discusses the Bayan vs Zamora case, which centered around the constitutionality of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) entered between the Philippines and United States. It provides background on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the countries and negotiations in the late 1990s that led to the signing of the VFA in 1998. The VFA went into effect in 1999 after ratification by the Philippine Senate. Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of the VFA, but the Supreme Court ultimately upheld it, finding it was duly ratified by the Senate and that the US could treat it as an executive agreement under international law.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    23 views2 pages

    Bayan Vs Zamorag.R. No. 138570, Oct. 10, 2000

    Uploaded by

    missyali
    The document discusses the Bayan vs Zamora case, which centered around the constitutionality of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) entered between the Philippines and United States. It provides background on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the countries and negotiations in the late 1990s that led to the signing of the VFA in 1998. The VFA went into effect in 1999 after ratification by the Philippine Senate. Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of the VFA, but the Supreme Court ultimately upheld it, finding it was duly ratified by the Senate and that the US could treat it as an executive agreement under international law.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Bayan vs ZamoraG.R. No. 138570, Oct.

    10, 2000
    On March 14, 1947, the Philippines and the United States of
    America forged a Military Bases Agreement which formalized,
    among others, the use of installations in the Philippine territory
    by United States military personnel. To further strengthen their
    defense and security relationship, the Philippines and the United
    States entered into a Mutual Defense Treaty on August 30, 1951.
    Under the treaty, the parties agreed to respond to any external
    armed attack on their territory, armed forces, public vessels, and
    aircraft.
    In view of the impending expiration of the RP-US Military Bases
    Agreement in 1991, the Philippines and the United States
    negotiated for a possible extension of the military bases
    agreement.
    On July 18, 1997, the United States panel, headed by US Defense
    Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia Pacific Kurt Campbell, met
    with the Philippine panel, headed by Foreign Affairs
    Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino Jr., to exchange notes on the
    complementing strategic interests of the United States and the
    Philippines in the Asia-Pacific region. Both sides discussed,
    among other things, the possible elements of the Visiting Forces
    Agreement (VFA for brevity). Negotiations by both panels on the
    VFA led to a consolidated draft text, which in turn resulted to a
    final series of conferences and negotiations that culminated in
    Manila on January 12 and 13, 1998. Thereafter, then President
    Fidel V. Ramos approved the VFA, which was respectively signed
    by public respondent Secretary Siazon and Unites States
    Ambassador Thomas Hubbard on February 10, 1998.
    On October 5, 1998, President Joseph E. Estrada, through
    respondent Secretary of Foreign Affairs, ratified the VFA. On
    October 6, 1998, the President, acting through respondent
    Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, officially transmitted to the
    Senate of the Philippines, the Instrument of Ratification, the letter
    of the President and the VFA, for concurrence pursuant to Section
    21, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution. The Senate, in turn,
    referred the VFA to its Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by
    Senator Blas F. Ople, and its Committee on National Defense and
    Security, chaired by Senator Rodolfo G. Biazon, for their joint
    consideration and recommendation. Thereafter, joint public
    hearings were held by the two Committees.
    On May 3, 1999, the Committees submitted Proposed Senate
    Resolution No. 443 recommending the concurrence of the Senate

    to the VFA and the creation of a Legislative Oversight Committee


    to oversee its implementation. Debates then ensued. On May 27,
    1999, Proposed Senate Resolution No. 443 was approved by the
    Senate, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of its members. Senate
    Resolution No. 443 was then re-numbered as Senate Resolution
    No. 18.
    On June 1, 1999, the VFA officially entered into force after an
    Exchange of Notes between respondent Secretary Siazon and
    United States Ambassador Hubbard.
    The VFA, which consists of a Preamble and nine (9) Articles,
    provides for the mechanism for regulating the circumstances and
    conditions under which US Armed Forces and defense personnel
    may be present in the Philippines.
    Petitioners as legislators, non-governmental organizations,
    citizens, and taxpayers assail the constitutionality of the VFA
    and impute to herein respondents grave abuse of discretion in
    ratifying the agreement.
    The issue her is whether or not the Visiting Forces Agreement
    entered by the Republic of the Philippines and the United Sates is
    constitutional or unconstitutional.
    The Supreme Court held that the Visiting Forces Agreement is
    constitutional having been duly concurred in by the Philippine
    Senate. The Republic of the Philippines cannot require the United
    States to submit the agreement to the US Senate for
    concurrence, for that would be giving a strict construction to the
    phrase recognized as a treaty. US treats VFA as an executive
    agreement because as governed by international law, an
    executive agreement is just as binding as a treaty.

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