ZAMBOANGA CITY: President Rodrigo Duterte’s reported plan to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States has been resisted by Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar of Zamboanga City which, together with other cities and provinces in the Philippines, “has been a recipient of various military and logistic assistance from the world’s most powerful country.”

Climaco-Salazar said the VFA’s “Balikatan” program, which started in early 2002, “has ably provided appropriate training and other necessary practices and seasoning to our nation’s military, police and local government unit leaders that enhanced their crime fighting capabilities.”