Philippine court allows military deal with US amid South China Sea tension

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the legality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States in a decision that is seen to pave the way for greater U.S. military presence in the country.

Manila has always been a staunch U.S. ally and the pact is widely seen as important for both as the Philippines confronts an assertive China in the disputed Spratly archipelago and Washington launches a “pivot” back to Asia.

Voting 10-4-1, the high court said the the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between Manila and Washington is an executive agreement and not a treaty that requires the senate’s ratification.

The decision also coincided with the ongoing “two-plus-two” conference between the Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and their counterparts in Washington.

Dozens of anti-US activists held protests outside the court saying the ruling was “untenable” and would make the Philippines “a launching pad for military intervention in the region”.

Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said the court’s ruling boosts the ongoing military modernization program, and will introduce the armed forces to the “most modern equipment”, which will allow “a generational leap in our abilities”.

With its own armed forces unable to counter China, the Philippines had no choice but to draw in the United States and its allies such as Japan, according to security analyst Rodolfo Mendoza.

“The President’s choice of an executive agreement to contain EDCA places the burden on respondents to show that it is a mere implementation of existing laws and treaties concurred in by the Senate”.

The Philippines is banking on a restored American presence at Clark Air Base and Subic Bay-once two of the US military’s biggest overseas bases, located near the South China Sea-to provide “deterrence against further Chinese provocation” and “enhance their security alliance”, said Richard Javad Heydarian, a security expert at De La Salle University in Manila.

“EDCA will be Aquino’s legacy for the next administration that is bound to implement it”, Mr. Banlaoi said.

“The laundry list of needs for the Philippine military is nearly endless”, said Gregory Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a USA think-tank. The group decried the ruling as a “de facto reversal of the 1991 Senate vote to boot out USA bases from the Philippines”.

In 1998, the USA and the Philippines signed the Visiting Forces Agreement, allowing large numbers of American forces to return to the country for joint military exercises each year.

An worldwide tribunal in The Hague has ruled it has jurisdiction to hear the Philippines’ claims against China’s bid to assert control over one of the world’s busiest waterways.

The immediate focus, though, will be on upgrading Philippine military facilities to prepare for the arrival of USA forces.

The long-simmering disputes involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei have escalated in recent years. Tensions have mounted on these artificial islands since China began testing flights on a new airfield on the Fiery Cross Reef.

In April 2012, after a tense stand-off with Philippine ships, Chinese vessels took control of a shoal just 220 kilometres off the main Philippine island of Luzon.