Teodoro says EDCA sites not for offensive operations against Taiwan

Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. allayed concerns that Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites could play a role in offensive military operations should China attack Taiwan.

Teodoro said the nine EDCA sites, including two in Cagayan — Lal-lo Airport and Naval Base Camilo Osias — are intended for logistics purposes. He stressed that the United States is not allowed to use these facilities to launch offensive military operations in the event of hostilities in Taiwan.

“Those are merely logistics sites,” Teodoro said.

The seven other EDCA sites are located at Antonio Bautista Air Base and Balabac Island in Palawan; Basa Air Base in Pampanga; Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu; Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija; Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City; and Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Isabela.

“They (Americans) are not allowed to launch offensive operations from not just the EDCA sites but any part of the Philippines because that is forbidden under our Constitution,” Teodoro said.

He added that the United States is allowed to build facilities at EDCA sites for the prepositioning of assets needed to respond to territorial defense threats and calamities.

Teodoro also cited the 1987 Constitution, which renounces war as an instrument of national policy.

He said there is a plan to establish an EDCA site in Batanes, although the province's limited space could pose challenges.

“Philippine bases have to be really expanded. But if it will be an EDCA site, I don’t know because it has limited space,” Teodoro said, noting that the province's airport and pier are already constrained by their small size.