Prospective PH-UK visiting forces pact anchored on West Philippine Sea claim - Teodoro

Manila, Philippines – Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. has confirmed British interest in signing a visiting forces agreement, which he said will be underpinned by the UK’s support for the country’s territorial claim in the West Philippine Sea.

Defense ministers from the two nations – Teodoro and UK Minister of State for Defence in the House of Lords, Lord Vernon Coaker – met at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City where the visiting official presented the letter conveying the intent to enter into a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with the Philippines.

The defense pact would allow the entry of foreign troops for joint military drills and humanitarian missions – an arrangement that the Philippines already made with long-time ally the US, as well as with Australia and Japan. The Philippines has also concluded talks for a VFA with Canada and New Zealand.

“Underlying that SOVFA is a full support, not only for UNCLOS (United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea) for international law, but full support for the arbitral award,” Teodoro told reporters, referring to the 2016 Hague ruling that declared as illegal China’s sweeping nine-dash line claim over the West Philippine Sea, which Beijing refers to as South China Sea.

“So, that (SOVFA with UK) is the clearest expression that a country may have to support our position in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.

Apart from the UK, another European nation, France, wants a VFA with the Philippines.

“We welcome this development because then it will be the second European country that we will be negotiating a SOVFA with,” Teodoro said.

Official talks will begin when President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. gives the green light, he said.

“They're [British] very interested, of course, in multilateral maritime exercises. And for us, we see a fit also with our army and their army being smaller armed forces. And we can learn a lot from the way that they operate as a smaller army,” Teodoro said.

This year’s bilateral military drills between the Philippines and the US troops involved over 14,000 soldiers, while with Canberra, more than 3,600.

NewsWatch Plus news anchor Lois Calderon contributed to this story.