Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown touched down in the Philippines on Tuesday for the first stop of his second trip to the Indo-Pacific to discuss security cooperation with Washington’s oldest treaty ally in the region.
Meetings with Philippine Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner, Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro and National Security Advisor Eduardo M. Año included talks facing regional security challenges and on strengthening the alliance through bilateral defense cooperation. These discussions also included “assessments of the regional security environment, including recent events in the vicinity of Second Thomas Shoal,” according to a readout from the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Talks also acknowledged the importance of maritime domain awareness capabilities to “counter illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive activities.”
While U.S. and Philippine militaries traditionally have had strong ties, an increasingly assertive China has fueled an increase in defense engagements and U.S. investment into Manila’s strategic military bases. This has primarily taken shape around the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a security treaty created in 2014 that permits the rotational deployment of troops and construction of U.S.-funded facilities to Philippine bases.
An additional four sites around the Philippines were placed under the agreement in 2023, expanding U.S. access to the Luzon Strait and Southwestern Palawan. Brown highlighted this development in his pre-trip remarks and discussions with his Philippine counterparts. “The sites are designed to strengthen combined training, exercises and interoperability between the two countries,” reads a DoD news article on the visit.
Brown reportedly visited an EDCA site during his time in the Philippines, although it was not identified which of the nine sites he toured.
Earlier this month, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies 2024 South China Sea Conference, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner announced the U.S. is slated to invest $120 million, more than two times what has already been allocated for Philippine bases, into EDCA sites under this year’s budget request.
Ratner also noted in his speech that this year saw the “first-ever combined UAV engagement,” referring to the rotational deployment of U.S. Marine Corps MQ-9A Reapers to Basa Air Base. One of the original five 2014 sites, the Philippine Air Force’s primary airfield has received the lion’s share of funding from EDCA.
U.S. budgetary documents list four projects at EDCA sites Fort Magsaysay and Camp Melchor Dela Cruz. One of the projects at Fort Magsaysay aims to construct an intermediate staging area for the Army’s Multi-Domain Task Force, a unit that is set to operate HIMARS and ground-based Mk.41 vertical launch systems capable of supporting anti-ship munitions.
Another project at Camp Melchor Dela Cruz involves the construction of a command-and-control fusion center, which aims to “synchronize activities and collaborate efforts during the conduct of US-Philippines combined training, exercise, and contingency operations,” according to documents. The base was one of four recently announced sites under 2023’s expansion and is located in Northern Luzon.
Brown said he felt that the U.S.-Philippine alliance is gaining momentum, noting that ties are on a “positive trajectory,” echoing sentiments had by U.S. commanders who trained with Philippine forces in recent exercises.
