Cagayan gov argues EDCA sites not really for disaster relief

MANILA - The governor of Cagayan on Tuesday argued that Philippine military bases in his province that will be accessible to US forces will not be for disaster relief operations.

Under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between Manila and Washington, US forces were given access to five Philippine bases, including two in Cagayan.

The sites were seen "to boost the disaster response of the country as the locations will also be used for humanitarian and relief operations during emergencies and natural disasters," the Palace said in a statement Monday.

But Gov. Manuel Mamba does not think so.

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"Hindi po kasi totoo 'yung sinasabi nila eh na pang disaster, lahat-lahat ... Hindi rin po West Philippine Sea (patrols) dahil wala naman po kami diyan sa West Philippine Sea, nasa eastern seaboard kami," he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

Mamba, who has opposed the expanded access of American troops to Philippine military bases in Cagayan, claimed the development will not be of anything good to the province.

He said Cagayan is only hundreds of kilometers away from Taiwan, adding the province will be in a tough situation if armed conflict breaks out in the region.

"Nape-pressure po tayo lahat eh, pati po ang Pangulo (Marcos) sa Amerikano, atsaka mga military po natin mismo," he said.

Mamba also claimed that Chinese investments in Cagayan might disappear due to the EDCA expansion.

Despite his misgivings, the governor has conceded that it is the prerogative of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to give Americans access to bases in Cagayan.

"But sa akin, I personally oppose this and I disagree with it at ang sa akin lang, this is inimical to the interest of our province and the Cagayanons," he told ABS-CBN News.

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A Chinese group, meanwhile, accused Manila of "going too far" in giving US troops access to the Philippine military bases close to Taiwan under EDCA.

"You know most of the countries in the world are very cautious about power competition between China and the US, especially as member states don't want to choose sides between China and the US," said Hu Bo, director of Beijing's South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.

"China and the Philippines have disputes in the South China Sea, we know that. Taiwan Strait is a different thing," he said.

"The consequence we imagine that in the future the US use the Philippines sites to attack, to intervene Taiwan Strait crisis or attack China's mainland or China's warship and aircraft? Have you guys imagined that?"

Hu believes this will put the Philippines in the middle of the conflict between the US and China over Taiwan.

Dr. Yan Yan, vice director of the SCSPI, agreed.

"The changing from defensive to China to deterrence of China is an upgrade of the Philippine security strategy and maybe that change is from the South China Sea to the Taiwan issue so that worries us, and from that, our feeling is that it's a bit provocative and probably will lead to another round of action-reaction competition arms competition and the tension in the South China Sea will rise following that," she said.

"Let's just keep China-Philippines relations to the South China Sea and all the trade relationship between us," she said.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, said that it is not looking for permanent military bases in the Philippines.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the new locations are meant to "make our training with the Philippines just more resilient" and strengthen the interoperability two countries' armed forces.

Philippine defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong also has said the Americans' access to the country's bases will be limited.

“These activities determine when the sites are going to be used, how they will be used, what can be brought in and what they would do with the sites," Andolong said. —With a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News