PHL, Canada seal visiting forces agreement amid sea tensions

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES and Canada on Sunday signed a military pact that will allow their troops to set foot in each other’s territories, deepening Manila’s defense ties with Ottawa amid lingering South China Sea tensions and just days after the US pledged support to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s deterrence in the waterway.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. and Canadian Defense Minister David Joseph McGuinty signed the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) in Manila, making Canada the fifth country to enter into a troop access pact with the Philippines.

Both sides agreed on the legal provisions allowing Filipino and Canadian troops to enter each other’s territories in March this year, with the Canadian government describing the deal as a reinforcement to their 2024 defense cooperation pact.

Senate ratification is required for the agreement to take effect in the Philippines, while treaties in Canada become binding without formal parliamentary approval.

“This is the first such agreement for Canada in the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr. McGuinty said in a delegation meeting before the agreement’s signing. “This was a deliberate choice.”

Ottawa has consistently backed Manila’s stake in the South China Sea, one of the world’s most contested waterways, where tensions between the Philippines and China continue to simmer due to overlapping claims.

Beijing continues to lay its sovereignty over the energy-rich waters despite a 2016 ruling by a United Nations-backed court that voided its claims.

“Peace is built on rules, not recklessness; and stability grows from cooperation, not contradiction,” Mr. McGuinty said in a joint media briefing after the SOVFA’s signing. “The Philippines has shown true leadership in upholding international law and seeking a peaceful resolution of disputes.”

The Southeast Asian nation has stepped up efforts to push back against China’s sweeping sea claims by expanding its web of alliances beyond the US, its long-standing treaty ally. It has forged visiting forces agreements with Australia, and most recently, New Zealand, alongside a similar deal with Japan.

The SOVFA’s signing also comes on the heels of US Defense Secretary Peter Brian Hegseth’s remarks at a regional defense ministers’ meeting last week, where he said Washington would establish a task force aimed at helping the Philippines bolster its deterrence capabilities in the strategic waterway.

A Pentagon spokesman said the joint task force would improve joint military planning, operational cooperation and force interoperability with Philippine forces, Reuters reported.

Mr. Teodoro said in the same briefing that the task force is an “operational arrangement” between the US Indo-Pacific Command and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“The task force has a specific mission… and that is to converge our resilience, both internal and externally,” he said, describing the body as a mechanism aimed at consolidating all military functions of the Philippines and US forces for seamless interoperability.

The Philippines and US are close allies, with their partnership anchored on a 1950s treaty binding both to defend one another in case of an armed attack. Their alliance has flourished in recent years, with joint military drills becoming more complex and involving advanced weapon systems.

The troop visitation pact between Philippines and Canada would improve their armed forces’ interoperability, which might help reshape the strategic landscape of the South China Sea, analysts said.

“The SOVFA creates a partnership between the two countries that hints at alignment on how to respond to a China that is becoming more confident in flexing its muscles,” Julio S. Amador III, chief executive officer at Manila-based geopolitical risk firm Amador Research Services, said in a Viber message.

He added that the agreement’s framework would provide an opening for Canadian forces to participate in various military exercises organized by the Philippines.

Chester B. Cabalza, founding president of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, said that Canada’s forging of a military pact with the Philippines signals its “true intention” to boost an international rules-based order in the South China Sea.

The visiting forces pact is a “significant development” for both nations, and would provide an additional ally that Manila could lean on amid Chinese aggression in the strategic waterway, said Sherwin E. Ona, a security analyst and associate professor at De La Salle University.

“It significantly enhances the country’s deterrence posture and opens opportunities for Canada to participate in joint exercises,” he said in a Viber message.

Manila has increasingly leaned on multinational cooperation to shore up its military capabilities, and it has held multiple joint drills with allies throughout the country as part of its efforts to bolster its defenses amid increasing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Talks for a visiting forces pact with France and the UK are also under way.