NEW LOCATIONS. Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. (right) and his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III said the Philippines and the US have agreed to designate four new locations to boost the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), during a press conference held at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Feb. 2, 2023. The five existing locations under EDCA are the Cesar Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga; the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in Nueva Ecija; Lumbia Airfield in Cagayan de Oro City; Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa, Palawan; and Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu. (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)
MANILA – The Department of National Defense (DND) on Wednesday clarified to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that the four new Philippines - United States (US) Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites have yet to be identified and announced.
This was after Senator Imee Marcos, chair of the committee, mentioned that the news said the four new EDCA sites would be established in the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Zambales.
"The four sites are still in negotiations. We might change the locations depending on the agreement that we might be having with the security sector," DND Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. told the committee. "When we had the agreement to have the four EDCA sites, we just agreed on the numbers, not on the actual sites."
When asked about the criteria on choosing a site, Galvez said it should primarily cater to the bilateral exercises between the Philippines and the US and could also be used as a contingency on the country's defense mechanism.
"If you look at the different EDCA sites that we had, these are logistics based wherein when we have the Balikatan exercises, which are usually done in Luzon, we normally deploy our troops in these areas," he said.
Marcos, including the local government units in Northern Luzon, are questioning the new EDCA sites, saying their provinces could not afford to be involved in the tensions between the United States (US) and China.
Cagayan Governor Manny Mamba, who was virtually present during the hearing, quoted President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. who said in the face of regional tensions, "the solutions are not going to be military. If they are going to be military, then they are not solutions because it will end badly if it goes that way. It will end badly to those involved and even to those who are not involved."
"I agree with the President 100 percent. Nobody, no one wins in war. The solutions to the regional tensions is not military. The solutions to the regional tensions will only end badly for us who are not involved in this show of might between two superpowers. The only military forces we want in Cagayan are members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)," Mamba said.
The governor also confirmed that he has not yet been formally informed by anyone about having an EDCA site in Cagayan.
Senator Marcos said her concern, which is shared by Mamba, Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Manotoc, and other local officials, is that Northern Luzon seems to have been chosen already by both the US and the AFP as the new EDCA sites.
Galvez said it is not "necessarily" for EDCA, but for Balikatan exercises.
The AFP reported that as of March 1, 2023, there are 21 existing EDCA projects in five sites located in the Philippines in which five were already completed, nine are still ongoing, and seven have yet to start.
The EDCA was concluded on April 28, 2014 and its constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court on Jan. 12, 2016.
Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said EDCA is a key pillar of the Philippine-US alliance, which supports combined training, exercises, and inter-operability between the Philippine and the US forces.
"The full implementation of EDCA will make our alliance more resilient and will accelerate the modernization of our military capabilities. The EDCA is intended to supplement our MDT (Mutual Defense Treaty) and VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement), especially in developing the Philippines’ and the United States’ individual collective capacities in addressing security threats," Manalo said during the hearing.
"The EDCA facilitates this through the identification and development of agreed locations in the Philippines that could host facilities and structures to where both the Philippines and the US forces will have access for the conduct of joint activities, such as training, exercises, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response." (PNA)
