What took Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, President Duterte six years to shoo away the Americans because of his friendship with China, President Marcos has agreed to maintain active presence of American troops through four new sites of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which allows the US to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays and allows the US to build and operate facilities on Philippine bases for both American and Philippine forces.
The US and the Philippines have agreed to four new additional Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the country, the country’s Department of National Defense (DND) said on Thursday.
“Today, the Philippines and the United States are proud to announce their plans to accelerate the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the full agreement to designate four (4) new Agreed Locations in strategic areas of the country and the substantial completion of the projects in the existing five Agreed Locations,” the DND said in a statement.
The United States has allocated over $82 million for infrastructure investments at the existing five sites under the EDCA, according to the DND, Inquirer reported.
Currently, there are five pre-determined Edca sites located at Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, which is closest to the Kalayaan Group of Islands; Basa Air Base in Pampanga, the home of the Philippine Air Force’s fighter planes; and Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, the country’s largest military camp and a frequent location of Philippine-US military exercises.
The other two areas are Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City.
The Edca was signed in 2014 to address Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea and respond to natural disasters.
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