Defense officials seek to ensure that locations under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States are ready for their envisioned roles even while a House leader said more sites should be set aside for joint operations with the Philippines’ oldest ally.
On Sunday, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers made a pitch for establishing an EDCA site within his province.
He pointed out that Surigao del Norte sits directly in the country’s eastern waters and the Pacific Ocean, facing continuing threats from drug smugglers, spy vessels and other foreign intruders.
“The province’s distinct advantage to have an EDCA naval site is that it is openly facing the Pacific Ocean and has an outlet to the West Philippine Sea, and ships can traverse the country from east to west and vice versa without the need to circle around,” Barbers said.
Meanwhile, Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. and key defense officials visited Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City, one of the nine EDCA sites.
Joined by AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr., Teodoro inspected the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) warehouse, which is currently being built in the airbase.
Once completed, the warehouse is expected to support the rapid deployment of essential supplies in both field missions and HADR operations.
Teodoro emphasized the strategic importance of Lumbia as one of the country’s major operating bases to support various missions of the AFP in Mindanao.
Continued basing developments, aside from the projects under EDCA, are seen to enhance Lumbia Air Base’s operational effectiveness, enabling it to accommodate air reserve forces and provide essential support to HADR operations during emergencies in the Mindanao Region, it was explained.
EDCA provides for the joint utilization of AFP and US Forces, as well as access to agreed locations in the Philippines under the ambit of the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement.
Meanwhile, Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela explained that the government continues to deploy the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in the contested waters rather than Philippine Navy (PN) assets to avoid militarizing the dispute.
“The only reason why you see Coast Guard vessels in the West Philippine Sea is because we don’t want to militarize the dispute,” Tarriela said in a news forum on Saturday.
