There will be no more additional sites to which American troops would have access under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), President Marcos said on Monday, April 15.
 

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Photo from the Presidential Communications Office)

Answering questions during the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines’ (FOCAP) presidential forum at the Manila Hotel, the Chief Executive dismissed the idea of further expanding the defense agreement to include sites in Batanes.
 

“Let me stop you right there. The answer to that is no,” Marcos told journalists.
 

“The Philippines has no plan to create any more bases or give access to any more bases,” he stressed.
 

Signed in 2014, the EDCA grants US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities and allows them to build facilities, and preposition equipment, aircraft, and vessels.
 

Permanent bases, however, are prohibited.
 

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

Last year, Marcos announced new EDCA sites—Balabac Island in Palawan and in Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; and Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela.
 

The sites in Isabela and Cagayan in the northernmost tip of the country, however, have alarmed Beijing because of its proximity to Taiwan. 
 

Marcos, however, clarified that the EDCA bases are not meant to provoke China, and that the additional sites set up last year “are reactions to what has happened in the South China Sea.”
 

He cited “aggressive reactions we have had to deal with,” such as water cannon and laser attacks, collision, the blocking of Filipino boats and fishermen, and putting barriers across Scarborough Shoal.
 

“This is a reaction to that. This did not cause that. It happened before we had EDCA,” the President said.