EDCA sites tapped for disaster response during Typhoon Uwan – AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine military facilities built under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States are being constantly used to support disaster response as Typhoon ‘Uwan’ (international name: Fung-Wong) swept across Luzon, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Tuesday.

AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the sites, located within military camps such as Clark Air Base and Fort Magsaysay, are serving multiple purposes during ongoing humanitarian operations.

“EDCA sites are multi-role facilities. If they’re not being used for training exercises, they can serve as fishermen’s shelters, command and control hubs, or repacking areas for relief goods,” Padilla said in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

She added that the military is still assessing the full scope of the facilities’ involvement in disaster response, but confirmed they remain actively utilized.

“They’re not idle facilities. Whatever purpose they can serve best—whether for exercises or humanitarian operations—they will be used in that capacity,” she said.

Padilla said the AFP has mobilized over 11,000 personnel, including soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and civilian reservists, for road clearing, debris removal, and the restoration of access to isolated communities.

“Our forces are now focused on extensive clearing operations, road and bridge repair, and restoring access to affected communities,” she said.

Padilla said the AFP deployed 2,827 land assets, including military trucks, engineering equipment, and mobility vehicles, as well as 169 naval vessels and rubber boats for coastal clearing and relief transport to isolated coastal barangays.

The Air Force has also placed 45 fixed-wing and rotary aircraft on standby for aerial assessment, rapid transport of relief goods, and medical evacuation.

“Our air assets are being used to reach areas that still need immediate clearing or engineering support,” Padilla said.

Moreover, she noted that the AFP has temporarily suspended its scheduled joint exercises to focus on relief operations.

“One of the focuses of our exercises is humanitarian assistance and disaster response. So from planned exercises, these have now become full-blown operations in response to the typhoon,” she said.

Signed in 2014, the EDCA allows the United States to preposition equipment and build facilities within agreed locations inside Philippine military bases.

While primarily aimed at enhancing defense interoperability, the sites have increasingly been used to support emergency operations during natural disasters.

“The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said in its 10 a.m. bulletin that Uwan weakened into a severe tropical storm on Tuesday morning.

It added that Uwan is packing gusts of up to 135 kilometers per hour (kph), and maximum sustained winds of 110 kph, 10 kph lower than earlier reported. /apl