Philippines says ‘won’t allow’ US to stockpile weapons at joint military bases

ISTANBUL

The Philippines said Wednesday it “won’t allow” the US to stockpile weapons at joint military bases in the Southeast Asian nation for use in operations in Taiwan.

Enrique Manalo, Filipino foreign affairs chief, told a Senate hearing that the “Philippines will not be allowing the US to stockpile weapons for use in operations in Taiwan at sites American troops have access to under a 2014 defense agreement between Manila and Washington,” the daily Phil Star reported.

His comments came as Manila has approved four more military bases for joint use with Washington under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), signed in 2014.

Whether Manila will let “the US store weapons at selected sites in the country will be guided by the main purposes of the defense deal,” Manalo added.

He was responding to Philippines Senate Foreign Affairs Committee chair Imee Marcos who pointed to the possibility of “the US caching weapons at EDCA sites in the Philippines” as she referred to the 2023 US National Defense Authorization Act “which allows for the creation of a contingency stockpile in Taiwan.”

“We would not agree to any kind of activity or even material not consistent with these agreed activities,” Manalo said.

Senator Marcos is the elder sister of Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Manalo said: “Our view is that EDCA is not aimed at any third country.”

Interrupting Philippines Department of National Defense officer-in-charge Carlito Galvez Jr., Marcos asked: “Why have we forgotten (armed forces modernization) and we are just relying on foreigners to defend us while the armed forces remain rotten, old, under armed and completely abject in the face of external threats?”

“With regards to the purpose of EDCA and modernization, it appears to us, to reiterate, that in fact modernization no longer appears to be the primary (purpose) of EDCA but disaster preparedness, maritime security, and counterterrorism,” Marcos said, according to the Filipino Daily Inquirer.

Early this month, Manila announced four new military bases for joint use with the US under the EDCA, drawing ire from China which warned of "more tensions" in the region, urging neighboring countries to "make choices" favorable to "their own interests and regional stability."

Currently, Manila and Washington jointly run five bases under the EDCA, which allows deployment of the American soldiers in various parts of the Philippines.

The Philippines had agreed in January to allow the US military access to four more military bases in the country, which will take the number of bases to nine.

The EDCA, a military deal signed between Manila and Washington during former Filipino President Corazon Aquino’s government, allows for the increased rotational presence of US troops, planes, and ships in Philippine military bases, as well as the construction of facilities to store fuel and equipment. However, it is not a permanent presence.

Manila is the oldest ally of Washington in the region and is also the largest recipient of US military assistance, equipment, and training.

Last week, during a 2+2 meeting with Filipino counterparts, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had said the two sides "reaffirmed" that a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between them "remained the bedrock of our cooperation."

"The Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks on either of our armed forces, our aircraft, or public vessels — including our Coast Guard — anywhere in the South China Sea," Austin emphasized, after a meeting in Washington attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Manalo, Austin and his Filipino counterpart Carlito Galvez Jr.