WHEN the covenant pertaining to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) was signed on April 28, 2014, there have been five "agreed locations." These will be in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu, Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City. The move was met with strong opposition to include a case lodged before the Supreme Court challenging its legality because, according to the petitioners, the agreement was signed without the concurrence of two-thirds vote of the Senate. The court dismissed the petition and ruled that EDCA is in accord with the Constitution because it is an executive agreement, not a treaty and therefore does not need the Senate nod.
With the news spreading that there will be four additional EDCA sites, criticisms were hurled and protests were again lodged against the Marcos administration especially when it announced that three of these bases will be in Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo and Camp Melchor de la Cruz in Gamu — all in the province of Cagayan and the fourth will be on Balabac Island located at the southern tip of Palawan. The news came, along with the holding of the "the biggest Balikatan ever" (Philippines-US joint military exercises) at this time of geopolitical tensions in this part of the region. The move triggered animated discussions among defense officials, the academe, media practitioners and opinion makers — to include self- proclaimed defense analysts and self-made security experts.
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