US fuel storage in Subic is regular commercial transaction – DND

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The transport and storage of fuel in the Philippines from the United States is part of regular commercial transactions, the Department of National Defense (DND) said on Thursday.

DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong made the clarification after Senator Imee Marcos questioned the shipment of 39 million gallons of fuel from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to Subic and sought an explanation from the DND and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“The shipment of fuel from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA to a storage facility in the Subic Bay Freeport in the Philippines via the commercial tanker Yosemite Trader is part of regular commercial transactions between the US Government and Philippine companies,” Andolong said in a statement.

AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said the military “has nothing to explain” about the shipment.

“The fuel shipment and the process that was followed by the US government, which was all administrative in nature,  did not involve the participation of the armed forces,” Aguilar said in a chance interview at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

The US embassy also confirmed the activity, noting that it is made through “proper channels, using established contracts.”

The Port of Subic Bay, which used to be a U.S Naval Base until 1991, is located inside the Subic Bay Freeport.

Recently, the US also moved to bolster the refueling facilities in two of the nine Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) sites inside Philippine military bases.

In May 2023, the US began the construction of a fuel depot worth $2 million, or roughly P111 million, at the Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, one of the Edca sites.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. also said in August last year that an upgrade is being eyed for Lal-lo Airport in Isabela, also one of the Edca sites which serves as a refueling site for the aircraft of Manila and Washington.

Under Edca, United States’ forces are allowed to rotate and store defense equipment and supplies inside the nine Philippine military bases as part of the Mutual Defense Treaty between two countries.