President Marcos may have been “misinformed” on the text of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) when he said the new sites covered by the defense pact with the United States would not be used for offensive operations.
Either that or the President is “misleading” the public, said House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro.
“It seems that the President was misinformed on the true text of Edca, or he is misleading the Filipino people,” the Makabayan lawmaker said in a statement on Tuesday.
On Monday, Mr. Marcos said the four new Edca locations were meant to strengthen the “defense” of Philippine territory.
Under Edca, the Camilo Osias Naval Base in Sta. Ana town and Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo town, both in Cagayan province; Camp Melchor dela Cruz in Gamu town, Isabela province; and Balabac Island in Palawan province were made accessible to US forces.
These sites were in addition to the five locations earlier identified under the pact: Basa Air Base in Pampanga province, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija province, Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City, Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, and Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu province.
“We will not allow our bases to be used for any offensive action. This is only to help the Philippines when the Philippines needs help,” the President said.
China earlier warned that the expansion of US access to Philippine military bases would endanger stability in the region.
The 2014 Edca grants US forces access to specific military bases in the country for joint training, prepositioning of equipment and building of facilities such as runways, fuel storage and military housing. The setup of permanent bases is prohibited under the agreement.
‘Guards’
Castro disputed the President’s statement, citing Edca’s Article 4 which deals with “Equipment, Supplies and Materiel.”
It states that the United States can store weapons, ammunition, war materiel and equipment in the Edca sites, and that it will have control over the access, disposition and use of the prepositioned materiel.
This provision, Castro said, states that “parties share a recognition of the benefits that such prepositioning could have for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” and that such prepositioning has value in the “enhancement of their individual and collective defense capabilities.”
But the lawmaker stressed: “It must also be noted that the Edca does not prohibit the use of these prepositioned armaments in covert or overt military operations in the Philippines or abroad.”
This is why, Castro said, she “cannot understand where Malacañang is coming from” with Mr. Marcos’ statement.
“It’s clear from the text of the [agreement] that the US is the one in control of the Edca sites on what is stored there or what activities are done there. The only role of Filipino soldiers will be to serve as guards [posted] outside [and] who cannot even see what is happening inside,” she said.
Dialogue
Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo, who is in Washington for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the foreign and defense ministries of the two countries from April 11 to 12, said only the Edca locations had been finalized and discussions were ongoing as to how these sites would be used.
“There will have to be discussions on the terms of reference, the type of activities and I think these all have to be agreed on. So at this stage, it’s really difficult to answer questions like that, it will depend on how discussions go on,” Manalo said on Tuesday.
In his keynote speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Manalo said the dialogue “highlights the positive trajectory of our bilateral relations, which is happening now at all levels, and the shared intention of Manila and Washington to sustain this momentum.”
‘When two elephants fight’
For Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the Philippines should not let itself be caught in the middle of the simmering tension between the United States and China amid the latter’s aggressive military activities near Taiwan.
Due to the country’s proximity to the Taiwan Strait, security experts see the Philippines as a strategic location for providing defense aid to Taiwan.
“The President has a good point in the sense that it’s faithful [to] the constitutional mandate [requiring] peace as the instrument of national policy,” Hontiveros said in a television interview. “What the President mentioned was a good principle… But as the old saying goes, it is the grass that gets trampled [on] when two elephants fight.”
“It would be very difficult for smaller countries not to be dragged or be obliged, whether by the US or China, to choose sides. We don’t want to arrive at that situation. We shouldn’t wait for it to happen, but actively try to prevent it,” she added.