By Vanne Elaine Terrazola Members of the Senate are divided on the plan of their leaders to file a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) on the abrogation of the country's Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States. Senate of the Philippines building (Senate of the Philippines official Facebook) Administration-allied senators on Monday expressed their reservations over the plan of Senate President Vicente Sotto III to bring to the SC the dispute on whether or not the Upper Chamber's concurrence is needed to terminate the 22-year-old military pact with the U.S. Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, whose U.S. visa cancellation was considered the "last straw" for Duterte's decision to scrap the VFA, said he will not support the move. "Because I believe that the power to abrogate a treaty rests on the President and it doesn't need the concurrence of the Senate, otherwise, it should have been clearly stated in the Constitution," Dela Rosa said in a text message. Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, said he "cannot join the petition" until he reads its contents and basis. "I still do not know what their legal theory is. There must be a legal basis should be based on the Consti, laws, treaties," the lawyer said. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Sen. Grace Poe, on the other hand, expressed their support Monday for the planned petition to the SC. "I support it. Because the Supreme Court is a co-equal branch of government and it’s a necessary part of checks and balances to be able to clarify the issue once and for all," Poe told reporters. "Because the law is silent on abrogation, it only says that the Senate has to be able to concur with that (treaty), but it did not say that to get out of the particular treaty that it needs the concurrence of the Senate. But it doesn't say, either, that the Senate is not needed," she added. Last week, Sotto said the Senate leadership is looking to question before the SC the Philippines' termination of the VFA without the concurrence of the Senate. He said the High Court's ruling will settle once and for all the debates on whether or not their approval is needed to withdraw from treaties with other countries. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and defense committee chair Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier said they are backing the move. Sotto on Monday said also joining him in the petition are Sen. Richard Gordon and former senators Rodolfo Biazon and Francisco "Kit" Tatad, who sponsored the VFA in the 11th Congress. Majority bloc senators Joel Villanueva and Sherwin Gatchalian, as wells as minority senators Leila de Lima, Risa Hontiveros, and Francis Pangilinan, have also voiced their support for the Senate's authority over the VFA abrogation. Aside from Dela Rosa, those cold to the Senate's plan to assert its authority on the termination of the VFA were Sens. Pia Cayetano, Christopher Go, Imee Marcos, Ramon Revilla Jr., Francis Tolentino, and Cythia Villar. They abstained from the resolution recently adopted by the Upper Chamber urging Duterte to reconsider the abrogation of the VFA. Sotto said he believes that the SC petition will not result in a constitutional crisis. "I don't think so," he told reporters Monday.