PH eyes military agreements with more allies

Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. —photo from the DND Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said on Monday that the Philippines was hoping to seal visiting forces deals, similar to the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), with three other countries next year to allow greater interoperability.

According to Teodoro, the RAA with Japan, which allows it to deploy troops and equipment to Manila, will “not be the last.”

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“Well, we are going to work on an RAA hopefully with Canada, with France as my counterpart, Minister Lecornu and I announced last year, with New Zealand and with other countries,” he said in an ABS-CBN News Channel interview.

“They will allow armed forces of these countries to operate with the Philippine Armed Forces within the Philippine territorial jurisdictions and vice versa,” Teodoro added.

Aside from the RAA, signed on July 8 after six months of negotiations, the Philippines has similar visiting forces agreements with the United States and Australia. —Nestor Corrales