MANILA — The United States will be allocating more than $100 million for infrastructure development at new and existing Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the Philippines this year.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made the announcement at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Philippines’ Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Senior Defense Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on April 11 following the 2+2 ministerial meeting between the two countries in Washington.
“We’re proud of the investments we’re making, and by the end of FY (fiscal year) ’23 we expect to have allocated more than $100 million in infrastructure investments at the new and existing EDCA sites. So those investments will spur job creation and economic growth in local Philippine communities,” Austin said.
In expanding the EDCA to include four new sites in Palawan and Northern Luzon, the planned infrastructure are seen to support combined training, exercises and interoperability between the US and Philippine armed forces and the local civilian-led disaster preparedness and response capacities.
These will also support community-based activities led by the United States Agency for International Development, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, capacity-building, access to safe water supplies, education, health care, sustainable fisheries management, biodiversity conservation and energy security.
Austin said expanding the EDCA puts the US in a position to better respond to and meet the needs of the Philippines in the event of a crisis like a natural disaster or a requirement to rapidly provide humanitarian assistance.
“I think it helps us not only work together, but it helps us address the needs of the Philippines as well,” Austin said. “And I think it’s essential to our ability to strengthen our combined deterrence posture.”
He stressed that the activities and number of troops to rotate through the EDCA are a joint decision of the Philippine and US governments.
Manalo welcomed the US pledge to fast-track and ramp up support for the modernization of the Philippines’ defense, civilian law enforcement and humanitarian assistance and disaster response capabilities, especially in the maritime domain, as well as the implementation of EDCA projects and investments in and around the agreed locations.
But the Philippines’ top diplomat noted that much work still has to be done in operationalizing the EDCA sites.
“We have to identify the terms and references, how these activities will be undertaken. So I don’t think we’re really at any stage yet to answer how they might be used. They’re still open to discussion,” he said.
Last Monday, Manalo said the two sides reached an understanding on the basic elements and purposes of these sites, which include being “in a position to improve the interoperability and perhaps respond to other types of security challenges.”
Austin said the US is committed to “swiftly finalizing” the Philippines-US Bilateral Defense Guidelines, which charts the two nations’ vision for alliance cooperation across all operational domains, including space and cyberspace.
The top diplomatic and defense officials of both countries agreed to complete a Security Sector Assistance Roadmap which will guide shared defense modernization investments and the delivery over the next five to 10 years of priority defense platforms and institutional capacity-building to enhance the Philippines’ multi-domain deterrence.
These priority defense platforms include radars, unmanned aerial systems, military transport aircraft and coastal and air defense systems.
Meanwhile, the Philippines is confident in the strength of its relationship and partnership with the US, not seeing harm in the handling of intelligence with an ally even as classified US documents related to the war in Ukraine were recently leaked online.
“We have full confidence in the investigation that will be undertaken (on the matter),” said Manalo, who reserved comment on the leak. “Just let me say that we are confident of the strength of our relationship (with the US) and our growing partnership.”
