Are senators seeking a definitive decision, or just a legal opinion, in their petition yesterday for the Supreme Court to rule if the Senate’s two-thirds vote is needed to validate and to terminate an international agreement entered into by the President? A bipartisan group of senators asked the tribunal to rule if the Senate’s two-thirds vote is always needed to terminate international pacts and treaties entered into by the Executive department. The senators, principally Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, have said that the ruling they want is not just for the VFA but for all similar treaties and agreements. If the SC sustains the senators’ position that the President may not unilaterally terminate an international agreement, that ruling must also apply on his pulling out the Philippines from the Rome Statute and ICC’s jurisdiction. Subsequent bilateral pacts were executive agreements, a notch lower than treaties, that did not require concurrence by the Philippine Senate.

Source: Philippine Star March 09, 2020 15:56 UTC