EDCA oral arguments set for Nov. 18

Oral arguments for the petitions contesting the legality of the Philippines' Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States will be held on November 18, Supreme Court Public Information Office chief and spokesperson Theodore Te said Tuesday.

At a press briefing, Te said the petitioners would be given a total of 30 minutes to argue their position against EDCA. Intervenors, meanwhile, are no longer required to argue.

The Office of the Solicitor General, which represents the government, will also be given 30 minutes to defend the bilateral agreement.

The deal, signed in April, was contested before the SC through two petitions filed by former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada, and by another group composed of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, party-list lawmakers from the "Makabayan" bloc, and former solons, among others.

Saguisag and Tañada both claimed EDCA's terms and provisions are “lopsided in favor of the Americans.”

The second batch of petitioners, meanwhile, said the EDCA goes against the Philippines' national interest, is disadvantageous to Filipinos, and is mainly motivated by the US strategic re-balancing towards Asia and is therefore in the service of US security and economic interests.

Under EDCA, the US will be allowed to build structures, store as well as preposition weapons, defense supplies and materiel, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels, and aircraft for a period of 10 years. —Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News