The United States should follow the Philippines’s lead when it comes to the implementation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), this was the statement of presidential election front-runner Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte according to report from ABS-CBN News.
“EDCA must follow the guidelines prescribed by our Armed Forces,” Duterte told reporters. “They (US military) could not use any other place without the knowledge or until there is advice from the Armed Forces.”
As of 9:46 pm today, partial and unofficial results show that Duterte has 11,735,419 votes out of 31,605,581 votes from 64,072 (67.96%) of 94,276 Election Returns. Expected total votes to be shared by all presidential candidates is 55,735,757.
EDCA is a ten-year accord signed April 28, 2014 by Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg in Manila. The Agreement is a 10-year deal that will allow increased US military rotation and storing of US military equipment in agreed locations in the Philippines.
The Supreme Court of the Philippines declared EDCA constitutional January 2016.
Agreed locations, as of April 2016, include Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro, Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu. The US forces can construct facilities in agreed locations, however, the Philippines retains ownership.