The Supreme Court of the Philippines has ruled in favor of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA between the military forces of the country and those of the US. Under this agreement, the latter will be able to increase its military presence in the country and South East Asia while strengthening its relationship with the Philippine government.
The U.S. and the Philippines signed EDCA in April of 2014. Through this partnership, thousands of U.S. troops will be allowed to stage training exercises and mock military operations in the Philippines with the host country's military forces, CNN reported.
Aside from these, the agreement also gives the U.S. the permission to deploy weapons, defense supplies, defense contractors and military personnel in the South East Asian country for 10 years, which is the duration of the EDCA. However, operations of the two countries as part of the EDCA pact have been stalled due to petitions lobbying against it.
According to The Standard, critics argued that the agreement between the two nations is unconstitutional because it did not have the Philippine's Senate approval. Furthermore, petitioners noted that through EDCA, the host country will be selling out its sovereignty to the U.S. and that the agreement will only benefit the U.S.
However, on Tuesday, majority of the Supreme Court's judges voted for the EDCA. They noted that since the agreement was approved by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III as an executive order, it does not have to go through Senate discussions. In addition, the constitutionality of EDCA and the president's order is backed by the pre-existing laws and treaties of the country including the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty.
Governments of both the U.S. and the Philippines applauded the Supreme Court's decision and noted that EDCA will be equally beneficial for the two countries. For the U.S., the country will be able to expand its military force in Asia through the agreement. The Philippines, on the other hand, will receive the much-needed military assistance since the country is currently in a territorial dispute with China as the latter continues to claim the South China Sea, the Wall Street Journal has learned.
