Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Facebook)

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has reiterated the "distinct advantage" that his province possesses as a potential location for a new base under Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). 

“Surigao del Norte has a distinct advantage as it is openly facing the Pacific Ocean and has an outlet to the West Philippine Sea (WPS). The ships can traverse the country from east to west and vice versa without needing to circle around,” Barbers said in a statement Tuesday, March 19. 

The Nacionalista Party (NP) stalwart issued these remarks following the Department of National Defense's (DND) decision to establish a naval detachment in Aurora province to protect the Philippine’s sovereign rights over the Philippine (Benham) Rise. 

“Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro and the AFP’s (Armed Forces of the Philippines) move to build a naval detachment in Casiguran, Aurora province was laudable as this would play a role in protecting and guarding the country’s eastern seaboard,” he said. 

The Mindanao solon says the country’s eastern seaboard, which includes the Philippine Rise, lacks ample security and protection and has been subject to the intrusions of China and other countries. 

This has led the area to become a passageway of ships that smuggle illegal drugs into the country. 

Barbers, the chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, says Surigao del Norte is also facing the eastern seaboard. He cited the urgent need to secure and protect the area from drug smugglers or foreign intruders. 

ALSO READ: 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/15/strategic-beneficial-barbers-says-surigao-del-norte-open-to-hosting-new-edca-base

Signed by the Philippines and the United States (US) on April 28, 2014, EDCA allows the US to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays and allows the US to build and operate facilities on Philippine bases for both American and Filipino forces. 

The first five locations under EDCA are Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija; Basa Air Base in Pampanga; Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan; Benito Ebuen Air Base in Mactan, Cebu; and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City.  

The four subsequent EDCA sites include: Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta. Ana, Cagayan, Camp Melchor Aquino in Gamu, Isabela; Balabac Islands in Palawan; and Lal-Lo Airport in Cagayan. 

Barbers and his brother, Surigao del Norte Governor Lyndon Barbers, offered the province as an additional EDCA site in September 2023 after US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral John Aquilino said he and AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. were considering adding more to the current nine EDCA air force and naval facilities.