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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Tuesday, February 14, 2017
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MANILA – Fourteen members of the upper chamber have agreed that any treaty and international agreement cannot be terminated without the Senate’s concurrence.
They filed Senate Resolution No. (SRN) 289 on Monday seeking to express “the sense of the Senate that termination of, or withdrawal from, treaties and international agreements concurred in by the Senate shall be valid and effective only upon concurrence by the Senate.”
Senate president pro-tempore Franklin Drilon principally authored the resolution.
Those who signed as co-authors were Senate majority leader Vicente Sotto III, minority leader Ralph Recto, senators Benigno Aquino IV, Leila de Lima, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Gregorio Honasan, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Sonny Angara, and Joel Villanueva.
“The power to bind the Philippines by a treaty and international agreement is vested jointly by the Constitution in the President and the Senate,” the resolution read.
“A treaty or international agreement ratified by the President and concurred in by the Senate becomes part of the law of the land and may not be undone without the shared power that put it into effect.”
In support of its argument, the senators cited Article VII, Section 21 of the Constitution. “[N]o treaty of international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all members of the Senate,” it said.
SRN 289 also argued that, “The principle of checks and balances, historical precedent and practice accepted as law in most jurisdictions, and the Constitution’s dictate for a shared treaty-making power require that a termination, withdrawal, abrogation or renunciation of a treaty or international agreement can only be done with the same authority that gave it effect – executive ratification with Senate concurrence.”/PN
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