[BenarNews] President Rodrigo Duterte warned Washington on Friday that it would "have to pay" to preserve a 22-year-old bilateral military pact, as Manila negotiates with the new U.S. administration on extending the Visiting Forces Agreement, which he has threatened to scrap.
The Philippine leader made the remarks while inspecting Air Force assets north of Manila, a day after officials from the governments of the two longtime defense allies began talks on the issue of renewing the 1999 VFA.
"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, they have to pay," Duterte said. "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."
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