By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
A PHILIPPINE lawmaker on Thursday urged the Defense department to consider establishing a naval facility in Surigao del Norte, under the country’s 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States, after a suspected submersible drone from China was found in central Philippines.
In a statement, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers raised concerns over a remotely operated submersible drone found by fisherfolk off central Philippine island Masbate on Dec. 30, 2024, which was allegedly of Chinese origin based on its markings.
“It is not far-fetched that China has long been conducting in-depth intelligence gathering inside Philippine waters,” he said.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a Viber message seeking comment.
The Philippine Navy is currently conducting its investigation to determine the origin and purpose of the sea drone, Xerxes A. Trinidad, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Public Affairs Office, said in a statement, according to news reports.
Mr. Barbers said the Department of National Defense should another EDCA site in Surigao del Norte Province, rather than in Misamis Oriental province.
Both provinces are located on the country’s major southern island, Mindanao.
Talks of establishing a naval base within the Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corp. (PHIVIDEC) facility in Misamis Oriental have started, which Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. said would become the Philippine Navy’s operations hub for Mindanao, according to a Dec. 20 Mindanews report.
“While I do not question the logic and wisdom behind the plan to put up… [a] naval site inside the PHIVIDEC facility, I think it would be prudent for us not to inter-mix the business complex with a military complex,” said Mr. Barbers.
The PHIVIDEC facility covers a total area of 30 square kilometers, spanning across 13 barangays in Misamis Oriental. It is one of the country’s largest industrial estates, according to the special economic zone’s authority body.
Mr. Barbers said establishing a joint US-Philippines base in his province would prevent foreign states from extracting minerals in the country’s eastern coast.
“[We] have long been offering the province as a possible EDCA naval site to protect the country’s eastern seaboard from foreign intruders allegedly eyeing… minerals extraction in the region,” his statement read.
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE“Surigao del Norte, as part of the country’s second largest island in Mindanao, is still vulnerable to security anxieties such as piracy, terrorism, and illegal fishing,” Chester B. Cabalza, founding president of Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
He added that Surigao del Norte is of “strategic importance” to the eastern seaboard of Mindanao. “It has to protect Dinagat and Surigao islands at the same time, which are rich in minerals.”
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Romeo S. Brawner, Jr. said last year they are looking to set up “strategic bases” along the eastern seaboard as part of the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, and to secure the resource-rich Benham Rise.
Having an EDCA site in Surigao del Norte would help the Philippines extend its “naval reach” to the eastern seaboard, said Georgi Engelbrecht, senior analyst for the Philippines at international think tank Crisis Group.
“A site (in Surigao del Norte) would be generally helpful for power projection into the eastern Philippine maritime space… [and] having better naval positioning could give the Philippines a chance to monitor and analyze Chinese maneuvers,” he said in an X message.
“An additional perk is that typhoons and disasters often hit the eastern portions of the Philippines. Having a site there would also facilitate quick response [for disaster initiatives],” he added.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in mid-2024 said his government has no plans to open additional EDCA sites in the Philippines.
In early 2023, the Philippine government gave US troops access to four additional military bases, under EDCA.
Three of the four new locations were in the northern part of the Philippines, particularly: Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta. Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport, also in Cagayan; and Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela.
The other EDCA site is in Balabac Island in Palawan, which is facing the South China Sea.
These are on top of the five existing EDCA sites since 2016: Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Antonio Bautista Base in Palawan, Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu, and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro.
