Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement
| Agreement Between the Republic of the Philippines and The Government of the United States on Enhanced Defense Cooperation | |
|---|---|
| Signed | April 28, 2014 |
| Location | Manila, Philippines |
| Parties |
 Philippines United States
|
| Language | English |
The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) is an agreement between the United States and the Philippines intended to bolster the U.S.–Philippine alliance. The agreement allows the United States to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays and allows the U.S. to build and operate facilities on Philippine bases, for both American and Philippine forces. The U.S. is not allowed to establish any permanent military bases. It also gives Philippine personnel access to American ships and planes.
The EDCA is a supplemental agreement to the previous Visiting Forces Agreement. The agreement was signed by Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg in Manila on April 28, 2014. On January 12, 2016, the Philippine Supreme Court upheld the agreement's constitutionality in a 10–4 vote. On July 26, 2016, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled with finality that the agreement is constitutional.
Evan Medeiros, the U.S. National Security Council’s senior director for Asian affairs was quoted in the Washington Post as saying, "This is the most significant defense agreement that we have concluded with the Philippines in decades."
For more than a century, the Philippines has been important to American defense strategy. Currently, the Philippines is a "major non-NATO ally" of the United States.
The U.S. acquired the Philippines from Spain after the Spanish–American War of 1898 and then fought the Philippine–American War against Philippine revolutionaries to secure their rule. After both wars, the Philippines was a territory of the United States from 1898 to 1946. The United States granted the Philippines independence in 1946.
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