Senator Francis Tolentino has urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to push for the amendment and strengthening of the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and other ancillary treaties and agreements for an iron-clad US support principally to cover the Philippine-China territorial dispute on the West Philippine Sea.

The MDT was signed in Washington D.C. on August 30, 1951.

The Tolentino's Senate Resolution No. 584 on the MDT issue will be discussed by the Senate foreign relations committee chaired by Senator Imee Marcos.

Tolentino, a legal luminary in the 24-member Senate, said the negotiations by the Marcos administration for a strengthened MDT should include the following:

1. Expansion of the definition of “metropolitan territory” to explicitly include “other territories where the Philippines exercises sovereign rights including the West Philippine Sea”;

2. Inclusion of “cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and other vital installations of the government and environmental destruction” in the definition of “armed attacks” made towards the Philippines that will activate the MDT; and

3. Include a provision in the treaty, including the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) and the EDCA (Expanded Defense Cooperation Agreement)  specifying the payment by the USA government to the local government units of the Philippines that will host EDCA sites of a commensurate compensation in the form of a financial assistance that will be used by the affected LGUs for their development.

The Philippines and the United States signed the VFA in 1998.

It provides simplified access procedures to the Philippines for U.S. service members on official business (for example, U.S.-Philippines bilateral training or military exercises), and it provides a series of procedures for how to resolve issues that may come up as a result of U.S. forces being present in the Philippines.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) was revived in February, 2023. EDCA was initially signed in 2014.

Under the ECDA, the United States has secured access to a total of nine Philippine military bases, including four additional ones that were identified in April 2023. The proximity of most of the bases to Taiwan and the South China Sea makes them valuable for military contingencies in the region, and the boost in the number of bases that America’s military can access supports its broader plans to disperse its forces more widely across the Indo-Pacific region.

The revival of the agreement represents a renewed commitment by the Philippines and the United States to each other’s interests and to strengthening deterrence in Southeast Asia.

Tolentino saw the need to amend and strengthen the MDT despite assurances by US President Joe Biden during a talk with President Marcos in New York..

In that conversation, President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense ofthe Philippines, Tolentino said in his resolution.

"The leaders also discussed the situation in the South China Sea and underscored their support for freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of disputes,’’ the resolution added.

The resolution also stated that while in Manila last February 2023, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III stated that “the U.S, commitment to Philippine security is ironclad, and that the Mutual Defense Treaty extends to Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea”.

The resolution, likewise, stated:

"Whereas, in press statement last 29 April 2023, the US State Department reiterated that “[t]he United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea, on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty;

"Whereas, in an online interview, U.S. Admiral Samuel Paparo vowed to curb Beijing’s maritime provocations and stand ready to come to the Philippines’ assistance, in the latter’s exercise oftheir sovereign rights in their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ);

"Whereas, in light of the recent incidents involving the Chinese Coast Guard against both our Filipino fishermen and Philippine Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), there is a need to strengthen our position in the said area by solidifying and enhancing our present defense agreements with countries having similar interest in the WPS, to preserve not only our interest therein but also maintaining the safety and stability of the region as well as the balance of power therein;

"Whereas, the Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations;

"Whereas, equally important is the declared policy to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory."