Department of National Defense Officer-in-Charge Senior Undersecretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. emphasized that developing the nation’s defense capabilities through bilateral efforts such as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States aims to build deterrence, and is not for engaging in war or interfering in the domestic affairs of other nations.

“The geopolitical situation is becoming more precarious by the day,” said Galvez.

“Our projects under EDCA and our other defense partnerships are not intended for aggression. We are not preparing for war, rather we are aiming to develop our defense capabilities against eventualities and threats to our security,” he said.

He highlighted that projects under EDCA are geared towards enhancing facility readiness of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as part of its modernization efforts to speed up external defense development.

“As the Commander-in-Chief, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. directed the AFP recently, we are shifting our focus towards territorial defense, especially in the West Philippine Sea (WPS),” said the Defense Chief. “Our previous engagements and exercises with our partners used to focus on internal security operations. Now, we are eyeing to strengthen our abilities to respond to external threats that may arise along our border-areas,” he added.

According to Galvez, the DND is aiming to achieve an optimal number and locations of the EDCA sites to maximize their coverage of the Philippine archipelago.

“We understand the apprehensions expressed by our local chief executives about EDCA and our bilateral exercises. However, we must consider the volatile situation in which we operate and not view our country in isolation,” said Galvez.

“The Philippines straddles a crucial location in the Pacific, and we have seaboards to the north, south, east and west. All of these must be monitored and protected,” he added.

Last month, the DND announced the Philippine and US sides agreed to designate four new EDCA Agreed Locations. EDCA, along with the Visiting Forces Agreement, operationalizes the 1951 PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).

It was signed in 2014 but its implementation was delayed in due to various reasons.

“EDCA was met with legal challenges, but the Supreme Court eventually upheld its constitutionality in 2016. Coupled with other technical issues, which have since been resolved, and the restrictions brought by the pandemic, the implementation of the projects under EDCA was delayed for many years,” explained Galvez.

“Thus, the identification of new sites for additional EDCA Agreed Locations is actually long overdue,” he said.

Catherine R. Cueto