CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Despite its designation as one of the sites covered by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States, Cagayan de Oro’s Lumbia Air Base remains under the control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The matter was among the main talking points raised during a forum in Cagayan de Oro, particularly its impact on operations at Lumbia Air Base in Barangay Lumbia, one of the original five EDCA sites.
Lumbia Air Base, formerly known as Lumbia Airport which once served as Cagayan de Oro’s main airport, is a minor air base of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and home to the 15th Strike Wing, an attack unit of the PAF.
The base operates various aircraft, including OV-10 attack planes, SF-260 ground attack aircraft, MG-520 attack helicopters, and the recently acquired Augusta Westland 109 attack helicopters.
Another PAF unit, the 10th Tactical Operations Group, also operates at Lumbia, which has been selected by the US military for building facilities under the EDCA.
Under the EDCA, US forces are allowed to set up storage facilities and station forward personnel to maintain them, and these must be accessible for use by the AFP. The US military refers to these facilities as pre-positioning areas where supplies, equipment, ordnance, and vehicles can be stored in preparation for disaster response and potential conflicts.
“An EDCA site is not a base. When we talk about EDCA sites, we cannot refer to them as a VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) base. It may just be a building, a warehouse, an airstrip – these are just small sites within a base,” said Dennis Lalata, consultant of the Presidential Commission on Visiting Forces (PCVF).
He said the EDCA sites are there to support US forces activities in cooperation with the AFP, mainly in relation to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR).
The HADR has become an important aspect of the EDCA. For instance, the US Marines were among the first responders after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck the Philippines in November 2013.
At the request of the Philippine government, US and international relief agencies arrived days after the devastation to provide aid to the thousands of injured and homeless. The US alone provided over $37 million in aid.
On October 23, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered EDCA sites to make full use of EDCA facilities for AFP airlifts in humanitarian assistance for victims of Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (Trami).
EDCA sites are more formally referred to as “agreed locations.” The term is defined under Article II, Paragraph 4, and elaborated under Article III of the EDCA, said Lance Jestin Calub, PCVF development management officer.
The Lumbia Air Base, like other EDCA sites, remains fully owned and controlled by the AFP, as specified in the EDCA. Operational control, defined separately in the agreement and affirmed by the Saguisag v. Ochoa ruling, further clarifies these terms, said Calub.
Lalata and Calub were in Cagayan de Oro to participate in a town hall forum on the Philippines-US VFA and facilitated activities, discussing the agreement, status of forces agreements, and the activities these agreements facilitate at the grassroots level.
The event, coordinated by the history and international studies department of Xavier-Ateneo de Cagayan last Wednesday, November 6, at the Corrales Avenue Campus, was attended mainly by faculty members and students.
Limitations
Lalata said US forces within EDCA sites are not allowed to join AFP soldiers in military actions within the country. They do share intelligence and information with the AFP, but only for specific operations and within certain limitations. Furthermore, there are restrictions on access to military camps by foreign military personnel.
Lalata, who has been a PCVF consultant on visiting forces since 2014, has been directly involved in research, strategic planning, national security, and development advocacy for about 37 years.
He explained that EDCA, established in 2014, allows the US to rotate forces and access agreed-upon Philippine military bases with the right to build storage facilities and preposition equipment, though it does not permit permanent basing.
Infrastructure upgrade
The US initially allocated $82 million for infrastructure at five EDCA sites, with plans to expand to $100 million to include new sites.
The five original sites are the Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro, Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, and Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu.
The five original EDCA sites include 15 infrastructure projects, though only five have been completed. They include an HADR warehouse, a fuel tank, and a Command and Control (C2) fusion center in Palawan.
The US embassy in Manila previously disclosed that $11.4 million has been allocated for EDCA works at Fort Magsaysay, $1.8 million for Antonio Bautista, $2.7 million for Benito Ebuen, and $3.7 million for Lumbia Air Base for an HADR warehouse and runway lighting improvements.
The $28-million rehabilitation of Basa Air Base’s 2.8-kilometer runway was completed in November 2023. Construction has also begun on a three-kilometer runway on Balabac, which will also receive an HADR warehouse, barracks, and other military facilities.
Four new sites in Luzon were subsequently identified as EDCA locations: Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; and Balabac Island in Palawan. – Rappler.com