THE Biden administration reassured the Philippines anew that the US commitment to its defense was steadfast, as it promised, among others, to increase its support for the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) modernization amid growing concerns about provocative Chinese activities.

In the inaugural 3+3 ministerial meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and their Philippine counterparts Enrique Manalo, Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Eduardo Año in Washington, D.C., on Friday, April 12 (US time), "the parties underscored their determination to increase US support for the modernization of the AFP to improve interoperability and to achieve our shared security objectives."

ALLIES Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 12, 2024 (local time). The two leaders were part of a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance economic and defense cooperation between their countries in the wake of mounting global challenges, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region. PHOTO COURTESY OF MPC

In a joint statement, the officials also reaffirmed Manila's and Washington D.C.'s "shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific" and discussed ways to deepen coordination over shared challenges in the South China Sea, including the "repeated harassment of lawful Philippine operations by the People's Republic of China."

Blinken, Austin and Sullivan reiterated the "ironclad commitment" to the US-Philippine Alliance and recalled that the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty extended to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft — including those of its Coast Guard — anywhere in the South China Sea.

"The parties further decided to explore additional opportunities to strengthen global support for upholding the international law of the sea," the statement read.

Austin in a separate statement noted that Biden's fiscal year 2025 budget request also sought $128 million to fund 36 infrastructure projects on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the Philippines, more than double the amount the US has already invested in those sites.

The EDCA Sites

On March 19, 2016, the Philippines and the US agreed on five locations as EDCA sites: Antonio Bautista Air Base (Palawan), Basa Air Base (Pampanga), Benito Ebuen Air Base (Cebu), Fort Magsaysay (Nueva Ecija) and Lumbia Airport (Cagayan de Oro).

However, over the next six years, progress in implementing EDCA through the construction of joint facilities or prepositioning of US assets at these bases was minimal.

It was only in 2022, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office, that EDCA implementation began to pick up.

On Nov. 15, 2022, the US spent $66.5 million to accelerate construction projects at the five agreed EDCA sites over the next two years. These include the construction of training, warehouse and other facilities at Basa Air Base, Fort Magsaysay and Lumbia Air Base.

On April 11, 2023, during the US-Philippine 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in Washington, the US Department of Defense also announced its intention to allocate an additional $18 million on top of $82 million it said had already been allocated toward infrastructure investments at the existing EDCA sites.

In April 2023, it was reported that only five EDCA projects had been completed to that point. There had also been "significant progress" on eight of the remaining 16 projects in the five initial EDCA sites, with six set for completion in 2023.

Basa Air Base has received more US funding for infrastructure improvements than any other EDCA site to date.

As of March 2023, $66.57 million had been allocated for a range of improvement projects, including a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) warehouse, command and control infrastructure, fuel storage, runway improvements, and aircraft parking.

Fort Magsaysay, on the other hand, is the second largest allocated US funding with $11.4 million, which is being put toward projects such as a HADR warehouse, command and control infrastructure, and urban combat training facilities. Satellite imagery shows that modest airfield improvements have also been undertaken in recent years. ALLIES Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 12, 2024 (local time). The two leaders were part of a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance economic and defense cooperation between their countries in the wake of mounting global challenges, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region. PHOTO COURTESY OF MPC ALLIES Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 12, 2024 (local time). The two leaders were part of a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance economic and defense cooperation between their countries in the wake of mounting global challenges, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region. PHOTO COURTESY OF MPC ALLIES Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 12, 2024 (local time). The two leaders were part of a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance economic and defense cooperation between their countries in the wake of mounting global challenges, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region. PHOTO COURTESY OF MPC ALLIES Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 12, 2024 (local time). The two leaders were part of a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance economic and defense cooperation between their countries in the wake of mounting global challenges, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region. PHOTO COURTESY OF MPC ALLIES Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 12, 2024 (local time). The two leaders were part of a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance economic and defense cooperation between their countries in the wake of mounting global challenges, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region. PHOTO COURTESY OF MPC ALLIES Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 12, 2024 (local time). The two leaders were part of a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance economic and defense cooperation between their countries in the wake of mounting global challenges, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region. PHOTO COURTESY OF MPC

Antonio Bautista Air Base, meanwhile, has received funding worth $1.8 million for the construction of an ammunition warehouse, fuel storage, and command and control infrastructure, as well as the renovation of a storage warehouse.

As of May 2023, three EDCA projects had been completed at this base.

Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base only had one EDCA project for which the US invested $2.7 million.

Lumbia Air Base is the target recipient of $3.7 million in US funding for the construction of a HADR warehouse and improvements to runway lighting.

On April 3, Philippine and US defense officials identified four new locations where the US military will be given new access under the EDCA: Naval Base Camilo Osias (Santa Ana, Cagayan), Camp Melchor Dela Cruz (Gamu, Isabela), Balabac Island (Palawan) and Lal-lo Airport (Cagayan).

So far, 14 projects have already been identified as being constructed and funded by the US at the four new EDCA locations.

'Deepening cooperation'

The 3 + 3 ministerial meeting took place a day after President Joe Biden convened a trilateral summit involving himself, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Marcos meant to enhance the economic and security cooperation of the three countries in the wake of the growing global challenges, highlighted by the territorial dispute in the Indo-Pacific Region.

"Today's meeting reflects the growing and deepening cooperation between our countries on a broad array of issues and, of course, our shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, including in the South China Sea," Blinken said in brief opening remarks.

"We very much welcome this opportunity to pursue that cooperation, that collaboration, and of course, we stand with the Philippines in our ironclad defense commitments, including the Mutual Defense Treaty," he said.

Manalo echoed those remarks. "We attach a lot of importance to this meeting, especially in light of recent developments in the South China Sea, especially China's escalation of its harassment," he said. "We are determined to assert our sovereign rights, especially within our exclusive economic zone."

Austin later hosted Marcos at the Pentagon, where they discussed ways to deepen military cooperation, including by increasing the frequency of joint patrols in the South China Sea.

"This visit here to the Pentagon reaffirms once again the strength of the relationship between the United States and the Philippines in the face of all of the threats and challenges that we have had to face together," Marcos said. He said he hoped the agreements reached Thursday "will make the safety, the peace and the stability of the South China Sea a reality."

On Thursday at the summit, Biden said the US treaty obligations to its Pacific allies, like Japan and the Philippines, were "ironclad." "Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty," Biden said.

The White House billed the first trilateral summit with Japan and the Philippines as a potent response to China's attempts at "intimidation" and said it would send a message that China was "the outlier in the neighborhood," according to an administration official.

The US and the Philippines have had a mutual treaty in place for more than 70 years. Biden's vigorous reinforcement of the American commitment comes amid persistent skirmishes between the Philippine and Chinese coast guards in the disputed South China Sea.

Relations between China and the Philippines have been repeatedly tested by confrontations involving the two nations' coast guard vessels there. Chinese coast guard ships also regularly approach disputed Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands near Taiwan.

The so-called "gray-zone" harassment by China has included shining military-grade lasers at the Philippine Coast Guard, firing water cannons at vessels and ramming into Philippine ships near the Second Thomas Shoal, which both Manila and Beijing claim. In 1999, Manila intentionally ran a World War II-era ship aground on the shoal, establishing a permanent military presence there.

Chinese officials have bristled at criticism over their actions in the South China Sea and blamed the US for exacerbating tensions.

Spokeswoman Mao Ning of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said China has "indisputable sovereignty" over the Second Thomas Shoal — a primary source of contention with the Philippines — as well as the Senkaku Islands and said its actions in the South and East China Seas are justified, lawful and beyond reproach.

"We firmly oppose relevant countries flexing muscles and acting like bullies in the South China Sea," she said. "Relevant countries, out of selfish interests, join countries outside the region and serve as their pawns to contain China. Our message to these countries: recent history tells us that eventually pawns will easily be abandoned."

Biden, a Democrat, has made improving relations with the Philippines a priority since Marcos became the country's president in June 2022. The relationship has had ups and downs over the years and was in a difficult place when Marcos took office. Human rights groups said Marcos' predecessor Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the country's former dictator, said that as a candidate, he would look to pursue closer ties with China. But he has increasingly drifted toward Washington amid concerns about China's coercive action.

'PH appreciates'

On Friday, the Department of National Defense reiterated its appreciation for the US government's sustained support for the ongoing AFP Modernization Program.

On April 5, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall III visited the DND headquarters, met with DND Senior Undersecretary Irineo Espino, and discussed the deepening alliance between the Philippines and the US.

Espino noted the arrival of the C-130 aircraft acquired from Lockheed Martin through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which supports the AFP's humanitarian and disaster response operations and bolsters the Philippine Air Force's cargo airlift fleet operations.

Defense Spokesman Arsenio Andolong said Espino also acknowledged the support of the US Congress with the allocation of $109 million for the implementation of the EDCA projects.

"The two security officials discussed the upcoming conduct of Exercise Balikatan, which boosts the interoperability of the two countries' armed forces, as well as enhances the AFP's external defense operations. This year's iteration of the Balikatan is the largest exercise to date, with the participation of over 11,000 US troops and 5,000 Filipino troops, while 14 countries will be joining as observers," Andolong said.

Likewise, the two officials reaffirmed the Philippines-US commitment to protecting and maintaining the international rules-based order in the West Philippine Sea.

'Strategic victory'

Meanwhile, Speaker Martin Romualdez said that the Philippines has "scored a strategic victory" after securing the solid commitment of the US and Japan in upholding the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), which China has been claiming as part of the South China Sea.

In a statement on Saturday, Romualdez, who was part of the Philippine delegation to the summit, said that the President's leadership and diplomatic initiatives advanced the Philippines' interests, especially in upholding sovereignty and safeguarding integrity, particularly in the WPS.

"The commitment of the United States and Japan to support the Philippines in defending its sovereignty and promoting regional peace is a testament to the strength of bilateral and multilateral partnerships in addressing complex security challenges," Romualdez said.

He said he hoped that the trilateral summit would serve to de-escalate the simmering tensions in the WPS for the mutual benefit of all stakeholders.

Romualdez also stressed that Marcos has the full support of the House of Representatives for his efforts in protecting the country's interests and in promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific Region.

"The House of Representatives stands firmly behind President Marcos Jr. and his diplomatic initiatives to uphold rules-based international order as the foundation of regional peace and prosperity," Romualdez said.