US-Philippines defence cooperation hits turbulence amid domestic opposition

While the Marcos administration continues to push for closer defence ties with Washington, a domestic coalition has risen up in anger over the president’s plans
Members of the Filipino-Chinese business community, former president Rodrigo Duterte and even Marcos’ sister are collectively resisting a fully fledged alignment with the US against China

Richard Heydarian

Published: 3:30am, 10 Apr 2023

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“Gentlemen, what is our fight with Taiwan? What’s our fight with Taiwan? I don’t understand,” Senator Maria Imelda “Imee” Marcos, chair of the Philippine Senate’s foreign affairs committee, asked during a high-profile hearing last month.

“Why are we doing all the military exercises in Luzon a stone’s throw … away from Taiwan?” she asked during exchanges with top Philippine defence officials serving under her younger brother, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr.

The senator was referring to the government’s recent decision to expand US access to a host of military bases across the Philippines under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). She complained how the crucial defence pact could be hijacked by the US geopolitical agenda, namely “addressing the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait”.

In response, Philippine Defence Secretary Carlito Galvez Jnr said, “We might change the location depending on the agreement we might be having with the security sector.” Shortly after, the Philippine military announced it would relocate major war games with the United States this year away from Taiwan. It has also refused to grant US requests for access to the northernmost Philippine bases which are close to Taiwan’s shores.

Although the Marcos administration has gradually tilted towards traditional allies, especially amid the festering disputes with China in the South China Sea, the president faces resistance at home.

A coalition of figures from across the political spectrum, including Imee Marcos, former president Rodrigo Duterte and nationalist groups are collectively resisting a fully fledged alignment with the US against China.

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US to gain expanded access to Philippine military bases in bid to counter China

The EDCA was controversial from its inception. Following the months-long naval stand-off between the Philippines and China over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, then-president Benigno Aquino III’s administration realised that existing defence deals with Washington were sorely insufficient.

Although the US has a Mutual Defence Treaty and a Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines, it had consistently refused to clarify the parameters of its defence obligations vis-à-vis the South China Sea disputes. The defence treaty, for instance, only vaguely refers to shared interests and obligations against “external armed attack in the Pacific” while generically promising US assistance to “meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes”.

As a result, the Obama administration – which maintained neutrality on sovereignty disputes in the area – refused to assist the Philippines in any meaningful way during the Scarborough Shoal crisis, which culminated in China taking control over the hotly disputed land feature. In response, the Aquino administration sought to further bind the US to Philippine interests and sovereign claims in the area under a new defence pact.

After eight rounds of negotiations, the two sides finalised a new pact in 2014. Under the EDCA, the US promised to assist Philippine military modernisation and enhance joint deterrence capabilities in the South China Sea. In exchange, the Pentagon would be allowed to establish a rotational US presence in predesignated bases, and position weapons systems, aircraft and vessels.

However, the EDCA immediately faced major hurdles. First, there was a challenge on its constitutionality at the Philippine Supreme Court amid concerns over violating legal prohibitions against establishing permanent foreign bases in the country. Not long after the Philippine top court cleared the agreement, Duterte – a Beijing-friendly local official – was elected president.

Throughout his term, Duterte was repeatedly at loggerheads with the West over human rights and democracy issues. He largely prevented the full implementation of the EDCA, which he said damaged Philippine sovereignty and was too provocative towards China.

His successor’s decision to fully implement and even expand the parameters of the agreement has provoked outrage among a coalition which includes Duterte and members of the Filipino-Chinese business community. Despite his supposed retirement from politics, Duterte has been vocal against the agreement, recently warning, “China is not our enemy. But we will [end up] fighting China if China tries to take Taiwan and America defends Taiwan and there is going to be war.”

US-Philippines bases deal seen as reaction to China’s actions in South China Sea

Duterte and Imee Marcos have created space for others to pitch in. In recent months, governors of the northern Cagayan and Isabela provinces have opposed the EDCA expansion, warning of unwanted confrontation with and loss of investment from China.

Meanwhile, nationalist groups have warned of dire consequences for both Philippine sovereignty and human rights conditions under the Marcos presidency. And the Chinese embassy in Manila said the EDCA could undercut booming bilateral trade and strategic relations between the Philippines and China.

Domestic resistance seems to have influenced Manila’s approach. For instance, the massive Balikatan drills this year were relocated away from northwestern Ilocos Norte province, probably over vocal opposition from Imee Marcos, whose son Matthew is governor of the province.

A Filipino soldier fires an anti-tank rocket with the guidance of a US soldier during a joint military drill between the Philippines and the United States, at Fort Magsaysay in northern Nueva Ecija province in the Philippines, on March 31. The US and the Philippines have agreed to hold more combat exercises in 2023 and expand annual military drills following disruptions caused by two years of Covid-19 lockdowns, according to Philippine military officials. Photo: AP

Moreover, the recently announced list of new bases under the EDCA does not include two highly prized bases on Mavulis and Fuga islands. The bases are about 100 nautical miles from Taiwan’s shores.

The Pentagon also recently said the two sides had yet to agree on the number of US troops to gain rotational access to designated bases under the EDCA. As the host nation, the Philippines has the prerogative to determine the nature, location and size of military drills with US troops on its soil.

Thus, the Marcos administration can hedge by recalibrating defence cooperation with Washington depending on the trajectory of bilateral relations with China. Far from fully aligning with the US, the Philippines is leveraging the EDCA to enhance its own defence capabilities and pursue more equitable relations with China.

Richard Heydarian is a Manila-based academic and author of “Asia’s New Battlefield: US, China and the Struggle for Western Pacific”, and the forthcoming “Duterte’s Rise”