Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. is hopeful that LGUs will support the latest agreement between the Philippines and the United States on American troops’ access to more military bases in the country. | FMangosingINQ /PDI
Last year, the Philippine military announced that the United States sought access to five bases — two in Cagayan, and one each in Zambales, Isabela, and Palawan — which would bring American troops closer to Taiwan and the West Philippine Sea, where tensions continue to escalate due to China’s assertiveness.
US forces left the Philippines in 1992 after the Senate rejected the extension of the 1947 Philippines-US Military Bases Agreement. “We have an Army brigade in Cagayan with two battalions and two or three battalions of Marines. We have enough, I think,” he said. Chinese investors once considered developing the island but the Philippine Navy raised alarm over security implications due to its strategic value.
He said Cagayanons also never received any help from the Americans in the aftermath of Supertyphoons “Lawin” in 2016 and “Ompong” in 2018 as well as during Typhoon “Ulysses” in 2020.
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