Last week, Malacañang named four more sites added to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. They are Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; and Balabac Island in Palawan.
The Presidential Communications Office said the sites would “improve the country’s response to emergencies and national disasters” as “the locations will also be used for humanitarian and relief operations” during such calamities.
In a statement, Secretary of National Defense Carlito Galvez Jr., said the newly named sites would be very accessible to the country’s deployment of naval and air assets during national emergencies.
Defense Department spokesperson Arsenio Andolong clarified that the additional EDCA sites would not be used as American military bases but to store and warehouse military supplies.
Expectedly, both the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines expressed the belief that the designation of the additional sites will strengthen the country’s defense capabilities and protective of the national interest.
DND Secretary Galvez Jr., stated “Aside from enhancing our posturing of forces to address both external and internal security threats and calamities, we expect the construction of facilities and infrastructure upgrades to further help us ensure the welfare of our people.”
He added that the added sites “aim to protect the busy sea lanes of commerce along the West Philippine Sea, and our national interest along the eastern side and the Philippine Rise.”
For his part, the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Andres Centino, explained that for our AFP to attain its objective of strengthening defense capabilities and improving our disaster response efforts, there is a need for the Philippines to closely coordinate with allied counterparts like the United States.
There is no dispute as to the benefits that the implementation of EDCA and the additional sites will bring in terms of the country’s defense security and disaster responses not to mention the economic bonanza it will bring to those places where the American forces will be stationed, what with hundreds of American soldiers going for rest and recreation after their duties. The joint military exercises that are slated to be held soon will involve thousands of GI Joes.
What obviously is being ignored or downplayed is the consequential danger to the Philippines that the EDCA and the additional sites would bring forth.
There is presently increasing tension generated by China’s avowed objective to annex Taiwan to its territory. Taiwan is allied with the United States and the latter’s posturing in this part of the region clearly indicates it will not sit idly in the event that China invades Taiwan.
It is not far-fetched that if there is a shooting war between China and Taiwan, the US will support Taiwan, which will force China to attack US forces.
Under the Mutual Defense Treaty entered into by the US and the Philippines, an armed attack against either by an outside country will be deemed an armed assault on both.
In addition to the smoldering hostility between China and the US, there is the present war between Russia and Ukraine. The US, among other NATO allies, has been supplying high-powered arms and military equipment to Ukraine.
The Philippines is strategically located. Our country provides the best place for the US to launch attacks as well as defensive counterattacks against its enemies. The three EDCA sites in Cagayan and Isabela are only a few hundred kilometers from Taiwan. That should explain why the US would be deliriously happy having those sites as military stations. The other additional EDCA site in Palawan is just fronting the West Philippine Sea, where the Chinese Coast guards have been bullying our own coast guards and preventing our fishermen to fish or harassing and driving them away.
The danger is real; it’s not imagined fear. EDCA and those added military sites are magnets for attacks against us.
Last 4 April, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nao Ning warned about the hidden agenda of the US after we allowed the establishment of 4 new shared military facilities with the US forces. What she said about the US increasing its military deployment in the region rings true. That the increasing American military presence in the region would lead to more tension and lessens peace and stability is also not an exaggeration.
Perhaps the path to our country being a neutral state could be more protective of our national interest and more in keeping with our foreign policy of “friends to all and enemies to none”.