Saturday, 13 February 2021_Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has called on the United States to “pay” for the presence of its military forces in the Asian country if the new administration wants to keep a two-decade-old troop deployment agreement with Manila.
Duterte said the United States must pay for the continuation of its Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the Philippines, a year after the nationalist leader unilaterally cancelled the deal in an angry response to an ally being denied a US visa.
The withdrawal period has, however, been twice extended to create what Philippine officials say is a "window for better terms" to be agreed.
“I would like to put on notice if there’s an American agent here that from now on, you want the Visiting Forces Agreement done? Well, you have to pay,” Duterte said in his speech to Philippine troops at the Clark Air Base in Pampanga, north of Manila.
“It’s a shared responsibility but your share of responsibility does not come free because after all when the war breaks out, we all pay,” he added, alluding to tensions escalating between Washington and Beijing over US military activities in the South China Sea.
Duterte, who openly disapproves of the long-standing US military alliance, did not make clear how much Washington should pay to keep the agreement, which accords legal status to thousands of US troops in the Philippines for military exercises and purported humanitarian assistance.
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