DFA: EDCA ‘reaffirms’ robust...

did not pass the rigors of Senate ratification.” stakeholders, and ethnic media.

Community engagement key

“Scammers are everywhere… they’re not just on the phone anymore. They’re in the mail, they’re in advertising, they’re online,” said Rosario Mendez, an attorney with the FTC’s Division of Consumer and Business Education Bureau of Consumer Protection based in Washington DC, who opened the briefing. She noted the record amount consumers lost last year – over $8 billion.

“It’s more than we’ve ever seen,” she said. Mendez’ office has undertaken a series of nationwide listening tours to meet with local communities and to hear directly from them about the types of scams they’re encountering. The FTC can and does prosecute fraud cases, but its effectiveness depends on what it learns from the public, Mendez said.

She shared a story from a recent session in Louisville, Kentucky where a Korean reporter described a scam that one community member had fallen victim to. The FTC used that information to put out an alert in Korean that was then run across nearly two dozen Korean media outlets.

“The ripple effect is very real,” she said, highlighting the role community engagement with her agency plays in helping to staunch the bleeding.

Making it easier to report scams

“This is the first convening of this type u PAGE 9

The group also compared EDCA to the government’s refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Court under the guise of trying to uphold the country’s sovereignty.

“All this talk about sovereignty only but exposes the hypocrisy of the Marcos Jr. Government,” Sanlakas said.

“Unlike both military agreements, our membership in the ICC was by virtue of the Senate ratification of the Rome Statute in 2011, 11 years after the Philippines signed in 2000,” it added.

While the Senate concurrence is needed when ratifying treaties and Congress has oversight on the executive, the Supreme Court in 2016 ruled that the EDCA is not a treaty but an executive agreement former President Benigno Aquino III entered into to implement the VFA and the Mutual Defense Treaty.

The high court also ruled in 2010 that the VFA is constitutional.

Meanwhile, Anakbayan said it opposes the upcoming shoulder-to-shoulder military exercises between American and Filipino soldiers. The group said further U.S. military presence in the Philippines as it also is a “symptom of prolonged foreign dominance over Philippine economy and politics.”

Manila and Washington are holding their biggest Balikatan exercises next week. Over 12,000 American soldiers, 5,000 Filipino troops, and over 100 from the Australian soldiers are set to participate in joint military drills to advance interoperability.

“For the youth, the Balikatan exercises is also a direct attempt to further stir up the rising tensions between the U.S. and China towards a war for control over the resources of the Philippines and neighboring countries–something which could happen with Filipinos at a loss,” it said. n