Philippines, Canada ink landmark visiting forces deal

MANILA, November 9 ------ Philippines and Canada signed a landmark Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA), which allows the two countries to deploy its forces in each other's territory and further strengthen defense cooperation.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro signed the pact with Canadian Minister of National Defense David McGuinty in Makati following a bilateral meeting. In his opening statement during the bilateral meeting, Teodoro said while the two nations' information-sharing and people-to-people ties are already "robust," the SOVFA "would make that robustness enduring." "Beyond this agreement, we recognize its strategic value of expanding cooperation in critical areas such as maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, and] cyber defense capability," Teodoro said.

The Philippine defense chief said these are areas where the two countries could contribute meaningfully, "not only for our own individual security but also for collective peace and stability in the region." This also sought to uphold, he added, rules-based international orders, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), just as the deal would "resist attempts to redefine the norms for the selfish advantage of powerful countries."

For his part, McGuinty said the defense agreement was a "deliberate choice" and his country's first deal of its kind with a nation in the Indo-Pacific region. "It is a deliberate decision by Canada and its new government," McGuinty said during the bilateral meeting. "I know, as you have said, it will bring our countries closer together at a time… when we are strengthening our armed forces and our people. As we work to give rise to the next generation of rules-based international order," he added.

McGuinty said Canada's "enhanced presence" would allow their forces to take part in more multi-national exercises and build stronger ties with their partners. "Stability grows from cooperation not confrontation… We are proud to deepen our partnership with a country that courageously acts on values not just in words but through your dedicated work toward mutual peace and security. We share that dedication not only because of what we stand for, but because of our common respect," McGuinty said.

The SOVFA needs to be ratified by the President and would need the concurrence of the Philippine Senate, according to Teodoro. "We will work on this," he told reporters. The Department of National Defense (DND) said negotiations for this SOVFA concluded in March.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com