Metro Manila— The US government has earmarked an additional $18 million for the construction of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) projects, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo disclosed.
At a Senate inquiry on Wednesday regarding the issues surrounding EDCA, Manalo said the US government committed to providing additional funding that would cover “existing and new agreed locations.”
This was decided during the third US Philippines 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in Washington last week, he noted.
The new funds are on top of the $100 million earlier secured from the US.
Manalo also said there has been “significant progress” in EDCA projects, with six of them set for completion “within 2023,” including the runway project at Pampanga’s Basa Air Base and storage facilities in Mactan Air Base.
The government earlier this month identified the additional four EDCA sites located in Cagayan, Isabela, and Palawan.
EDCA seeks to beef up the alliance between the US and the Philippines, where they can conduct combined training, exercises, and interoperability in identified locations.
