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A U.S. official says that the Philippines will soon announce new local sites for the American military installations. VOA’s Jessica Stone reports.
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o/c: Philippines defense chief Carlito Galvez, Junior says he hopes that the U.S. will consider more of these shared military sites. Manila gave Washington access to four additional military bases last month.
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Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall helped break ground at the Basa Air Base outside Manila for a renovation of the runway this week.
He and Defense chief Galvez celebrated the expansion of the EDCA – Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement which allows the American military to access Philippine bases for joint training, pre-positioning of equipment and building of facilities, such as military housing but is not a permanent presence for U.S. troops.
The Philippines has yet to identify the four additional sites, but a former military chief has said Washington asked for access to three bases on the island of Luzon facing north towards Taiwan, and one on Palawan in the southwest, near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
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U.S. SECRETARY OF AIR FORCE, FRANK KENDALL:
“Today's event is a physical manifestation of our Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a key pillar in the U.S.-Philippine alliance. It builds on our mutual defence treaty and applies anywhere in the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea. As Secretary Austin noted in his trip here last month, our alliance makes both our democracies more secure and helps uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
PHILIPPINE SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE, CARLITO GALVEZ JR.:
“The one defence AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) team looks forward to the timely completion of all EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) projects, considering that those facilities would greatly help the Armed Forces of the Philippines boost its capability to ensure the country’s defence. Most importantly, the facilities would contribute to the national effort in securing our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, particularly in our maritime domain awareness campaign.”
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In all, the U.S. has allocated 82 million dollars for infrastructure investments in the EDCA sites. Jessica Stone; VOA News; Washington.
NewsML Media TopicsPolitics, Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateMarch 22, 2023 15:15 EDT
BylineJessica Stone
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
