Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 8) — The Philippines and Japan have yet to launch formal talks on the possible creation of a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two nations, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday.
Marcos made the pronouncement in an interview with reporters on the same day he flew to Tokyo for a five-day working visit.
“The VFA equivalent hindi pa talaga namin napapag-usapan formally ‘yan (we have not yet formally talked about it),” Marcos said.
“I don’t know if Prime Minister (Fumio) Kishida will take it up with me in this trip. But so far [there have] not been any formal proposals [on] that,” he added.
The Defense Department earlier confirmed that the government is eyeing a VFA with the East Asian country to let Japanese troops conduct exercises in the Philippines.
The Constitution bans foreign forces on local soil unless covered by a treaty.
Meanwhile, Marcos also highlighted the ongoing cooperation between the Philippines and Japan – particularly the latter’s support for the Philippine Coast Guard.
“So this is a new element to our relationship because we’re now talking about security of the region. So being, of course, all interested in the same thing, security in the region, I think cooperation is not a bad thing,” the president said.
